THE  FAMILY  IN  ITS 
SOCIOLOGICAL   ASPECTS 


BY 


JAMES   QUAYLE   DEALEY,   Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Social  and  Political  Science 
in  Brown  University 


HOUGHTON  MIFFLIN  COMPANY 

BOSTON     NEW  YORK      CHICAGO     SAN  FRANCISCO 


COPYRIGHT,  1912,  BY  JAMES  Q..  BEALBT 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 


CAMBRroGE  •   MASSACHUSETTS 
PRINTED  IN  THE  U.S.A. 


HC 


ic-L.. 


LIBRARY 

}'X'%  UMVERSn  Y  OF  CAUFORNTA' 

S/^i^  i"A  iiAllBAilA 


^H 


PREFACE 


In  presenting  this  little  volume  to  the  general 
reader,  and  to  the  student  of  social  institutions, 
no  attempt  has  been  made  to  include  all  the 
problems  relating  to  the  family.  The  social 
world  is  agitated  by  many  suggested  reforms 
and  remedies  for  known  or  suspected  evils  in 
domestic  relationships,  and  numerous  writings 
are  constantly  appearing  dealing  with  various 
aspects  of  this  question.  The  new  science  of' 
eugenics  also  is  broadening  its  scope  as  it  pushes 
to  the  front;  and,  if  given  time  for  development, 
will  yet  prove  of  inestimable  value  in  any  policy 
of  racial  upbuilding. 

In  this  work  it  has  been  the  writer's  desire  to 
present  in  a  somewhat  popular  form  the  historical 
background  for  studies  of  the  modern  family 
and  to  indicate  in  general  the  apparent  trend  of 
future  changes.  It  is  believed  that  much  of  the 
pessimism  of  the  time,  so  frequently  voiced  in 
discussions  of  divorce,  arises  from  a  failure  to 
appreciate  the  present  in  its  relation  to  the  past. 
A  sociological  viewpoint,  on  the  contrary,  tends 
to  develop  a  conviction  in  the  essential  integrity 
of  the  American  family,  a  recognition  of  a  trend 


iv  PREFACE 

towards  a  highly  ethical  form  of  monogamous 
marriage,  and  a  behef  that  famiUal  interests  will 
be  best  furthered  by  an  intelligent  public  opinion 
expressing  itself  through  law  and  moral  code. 

J.  Q.  Dealey. 
May  8,  igi2. 


CONTENTS 

I.  The  Family  as  a  Social  Institution  ...  i 

II.  The  Family  of  Early  Civili2;ation  .     ...  12 

III.  The  Patriarchal  or  Patronymic  Family     .  23 

IV.  The  Rise  of  the  Modern  Family  «    .    ,    «  35 
V.  The  Family  and  Religion 

VI.  The  Family  influenced  by  the  Reformation 

AND  THE  State 62 

VII.  The  American  Family  influenced  by  De- 
mocracy   73 

VIII.  The    Family  influenced   by  Urban  Condi- 


H- 


U 


tions 

IX.  The  Marriage  Tie  and  Divorce     ....    96 

X.  Democracy  in  the  Marriage  Tie    ....  109 

XI.  The  Family  under  Reorganization     .    .    .119 

Bibliography 135 


umnKnr 

•TATE  XKACHEim  OOLl.l«t 
SANTA  BARWARA,  CALirORMlA 


THE  FAMILY  IN  ITS 
SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  FAMILY  AS   A   SOCIAL   INSTITUTION 

Throughout  Western  civilization  problems 
in  respect  to  the  family  are  coming  to  the  front. 
For  the  past  three  centuries  men  have  devoted 
themselves  to  the  reconstruction  of  economic, 
political,  religious,  and  educational  institutions, 
but  have  up  to  very  recent  years  utterly  neglected 
that  most  important  and  most  fundamental  of 
all  institutions  —  the  family. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  the 
rise  of  the  theory  of  evolution  aroused  an  interest 
in  the  origin  and  development  of  social  institu- 
tions, and  among  these  the  family  soon  attracted 
attention.  The  publication  of  Bachofen's  Das 
Mutterrecht  in  1861  and  Spencer's  study  of 
Domestic  Institutions  contained  in  his  Principles 
of  Sociology  ^  stimulated  increasing  interest  in 
both  the  evolutionary  and  the  practical  aspects 
of  the  question.  In  the  United  States  the  results 
*  Volume  i,  published  1873. 


2  THE  FAMILY 

of  such  investigations  are  best  seen  in  Lewis  H. 
Morgan's  Ancient  Society  (1877);  in  the  three 
volumes  on  Matrimonial  Institutions  by  George 
E.  Howard  (1904) ;  in  the  series  of  annual  reports 
issued  since  the  year  188 1  by  Dr.  Samuel  W. 
Dike  as  secretary  of  what  is  now  known  as  the 
National  League  for  the  Protection  of  the  Fam- 
ily; and  finally  in  the  national  governmental 
reports  of  1889  and  1908-09  on  Marriage  and 
Divorce.  These  and  similar  studies  of  the  family 
and  its  problems  have  supplied  firm  foundations 
for  later  investigations  of  this  important  social 
institution. 

Furthermore,  the  rise  of  newer  theories  in 
respect  to  the  family,  such  as  that  involved  in 
socialistic  discussions,  and  the  changes  involved 
in  the  rapid  growth  of  urban  centers  with  their 
many  problems,  make  it  evident  that  the  family 
is  breaking  away  from  its  semi-patriarchal  basis 
of  the  last  two  centuries  and  is  passing  into  a 
period  of  transition.  These  changes  may  to 
some  indicate  retrogression,  to  others  they  sug- 
gest the  possibility  of  a  higher  and  more  ethical 
type  of  family.  It  Is  essential,  therefore,  that 
these  changing  conditions  and  standards  should 
be  understood,  not  merely  out  of  intellectual 
curiosity,  but  for  the  reason  that  such  informa- 
tion becomes  the  basis  on  which  society  may  de- 
velop definite  ideals  of  domestic  standards  and 


THE  FAMILIAL  GROUP  3 

a  policy  of  improvement  for  existing  conditions. 
If  modifications  in  the  family  must  take  place, 
it  is  the  part  of  social  wisdom  to  keep  these  modi- 
fications under  control,  so  as  to  eliminate  evil 
tendencies  and  to  strengthen  what  experience 
and  reflection  favor  as  good.  It  is  never  wise  to 
allow  important  changes  in  social  institutions 
to  develop  unheeded.  Forethought  and  insight 
should  characterize  a  high  civilization,  and  every 
important  modification  taking  place  in  funda- 
mental social  institutions  should  be  subjected  to 
the  careful  scrutiny  of  scientific  students.  Social 
causation  is  no  longer  considered  to  be  beyond 
the  ken  of  man,  a  fiat  of  fate  to  be  accepted  sub- 
missively and  blindly ;  on  the  contrary,  the  causes 
of  social  change  are  comprehensible  and  subject 
to  human  control;  and  the  social  forces  at  work 
can  be  resisted,  modified,  or  guided  through 
scientific  knowledge  so  as  to  accomplish  ends 
desired.  This  scientific  point  of  view  becomes  all 
the  more  necessary  since  on  all  sides,  as  attention 
becomes  directed  to  the  study  of  domestic  pro- 
blems, may  be  heard  warnings  of  the  decadence 
of  family  life.  Sexual  vices  and  diseases  seem  to 
be  sapping  the  physique  of  the  race  and  destroy- 
ing mutual  confidence  and  love  in  the  domestic 
circle.  "Race  suicide"  and  an  alarming  increase 
in  the  divorce  rate  seem  to  be  closely  allied  fact- 
ors in  weakening  the  sanctity  of  home  ties.  The 


4  THE  FAMILY 

demand  for  the  labor  of  women  and  children  in 
poorly  paid  industries  is  ominous  for  racial  vigor, 
and  the  crowded  conditions  of  modern  urban 
environment  weaken  the  ties  of  kinship  and  make 
impossible  the  close  domestic  circle  of  homely 
fellowship  like  that  depicted  in  Burns's  Cotter's 
Saturday  Night.  Yet  this  gloomy  and  pessimistic 
outlook  may  itself  be  a  harbinger  of  better  things. 
In  a  changing  social  order  the  evil  first  attracts 
attention,  but  later  comes  a  knowledge  of  con- 
structive tendencies,  and  a  comprehension  of  the 
question  in  all  of  its  aspects.  The  essential  thing 
is  that  careful  attention  be  given  to  the  study 
of  existing  problems  with  the  belief  that  larger 
knowledge  will  result  in  wiser  conclusions  and  a 
safer  social  policy. 

The  family  historically  has  been  and  presum- 
ably will  continue  to  be  the  heart  and  center  of 
social  life.  Long  before  religion  and  the  state 
existed  at  all,  the  domestic  group  flourished  as 
the  germ  and  nursery  of  all  modern  institutions. 
It  may  be  traced  far  back  even  to  the  instinctive 
groupings  of  our  animal  ancestry,  and  finds  even 
yet  some  of  its  truest  exemplifications  in  the  con- 
jugal and  parental  affection  displayed  among  the 
most  highly  developed  of  our  distant  kin,  —  the 
birds  and  the  quadrupeds.  In  these  humble 
forms  of  life  are  found  many  of  the  simple, 
homely  virtues  of  domesticity,  but  without  the 


THE  FAMILIAL  GROUP  5 

vicious  accretions  added  by  a  more  intelligent 
but  an  unmoral  and  at  times  immoral  humanity. 
Though  the  human  family  in  its  higher  grades 
has  become  nobler  and  finer  than  those  of  its 
remote  kindred,  yet  society  as  a  whole  would 
even  to-day  be  greatly  improved  if  human  par- 
ents trained  their  offspring  for  life  with  as  much 
insight  and  devotion  as  higher  animals  use  in 
rearing  their  young.  The  sluggard  may  well  go 
to  the  ant  to  learn  industry,  but  husbands,  wives, 
and  parents  may  learn  many  lessons  of  fidelity 
and  self-sacrifice  from  the  beasts  of  the  field  and 
the  winged  creatures  of  the  air. 

These  inherited  animal  qualities  supplied  to 
primitive  society  the  starting-point  for  human 
achievement.  Slowly  these  instincts  broadened 
through  reflection  into  sympathy  and  altruism 
and  now  find  their  best  expression  in  the  deep 
love  of  a  mother  for  her  child  —  unless  perchance 
this  be  eclipsed  by  the  less  instinctive  but  more 
intellectual  affection  of  a  father  for  his  children, 
which  religion  has  taken  as  the  highest  type  of 
the  love  of  God  toward  man.^  Yet  these  parental 
feelings  in  their  higher  forms  evolved  but  slowly 
among  human  kind,  since  for  thousands  of  years 
the  family  has  been  struggling  upwards,  slough- 
ing off  from  time  to  time  some  crude  survival  of 
savage  conditions,  though  handicapped  by  the 
1  Ps.  cm,  13;  John  ni,  16. 


6  THE  FAMILY 

acquired  vices  of  sexual  morality  and  by  an 
environment  only  dimly  comprehended.  Never- 
theless, the  family  as  an  institution  has  moved 
steadily  forward,  developing  collective  helpful- 
ness among  its  members  and  multiplying  altru- 
istic affection  so  as  to  include  within  the  kinship 
a  constantly  widening  circle  of  humanity.  Very 
early  in  civilization  was  established  the  hearth 
or  gathering-place  of  the  kindred,  and  in  the  rude 
homes  of  that  time  developed  language,  the 
industrial  arts,  and  the  ability  to  domesticate 
animals  and  to  cultivate  the  soil.  By  reflection 
also  came  beliefs  in  the  supernatural,  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  sanctity  of  custom,  and  the  growth 
of  a  civic  unity  safeguarding  life  and  property. 
Gradually  all  that  made  life  worth  living  cen- 
tered in  the  home  and  the  kin,  so  that  an  out- 
lawed, homeless  man  was  abject  in  his  mis- 
ery —  a  man  without  kin,  country,  or  gods, 
against  whom  the  hand  of  every  other  man  was 
raised.  Religion,  in  its  attempts  to  attract  men, 
has  alternately  pictured  the  other  world  as  a 
paradise,  an  elysian  field,  a  heavenly  city,  or  a 
Valhalla  of  feasting  and  battle,  but  a  belief  in 
immortality  never  proved  attractive  to  the  aver- 
age man  until  heaven  was  depicted  as  a  country 
of  homes  for  reunited  kin,  since  by  common 
experience  home  and  family  ties  have  come  to 
represent  the  highest  form  of  human  happiness, 


THE  FAMILIAL  GROUP  7 

well  worthy  of  being  translated  from  an  earthly 
to  a  celestial  habitation. 

Since  modern  social  students  emphasize  the 
importance  of  the  family  as  the  starting-point  or 
unit  of  society,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  the 
point  of  view  from  which  the  study  of  its  devel- 
opment and  its  problems  should  be  carried  on. 
The  family  in  its  history  has  run  through  the 
entire  gamut  of  human  experience.  It  has  been 
and  is  yet  a  group  of  economic  workers  engaged 
in  the  production  and  consumption  of  goods. 
From  the  standpoint  of  the  state  the  family's 
chief  function  was  once  considered  to  be  the  pay- 
ment of  taxes  and  the  production  of  men  cap- 
able of  serving  in  the  army.  Religion  has  em- 
phasized it  as  a  group  organized  for  worship  and 
for  religious  instruction,  and  social  Utopians  of 
all  sorts  regularly  desire  to  dissolve  or  to  reor- 
ganize it  in  accord  with  some  preconceived  the- 
ory of  the  family's  place  in  a  perfect  social 
scheme.  But  one-sided  or  visionary  speculations 
have  had  their  day  and  henceforth  the  study  of 
the  family  is  becoming  sociological  in  kind,  since 
this  science  aims  to  synthesize  whatever  know- 
ledge may  prove  useful  in  attempts  to  further 
social  progress.  Since  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  it  is  becoming  increasingly  evident  that 
the  family  must  not  be  considered  as  a  mere 
economic  tool  for  the  production  of  goods,  nor 


8  THE  FAMILY 

its  members  mere  hands  in  the  labor  market  for 
sale  to  the  highest  bidder;  nor  is  the  family  to  be 
narrowly  interpreted  as  a  sort  of  annex  to  either 
church  or  state.  From  the  social  standpoint  the 
family  is  more  fundamental  than  any  other  aspect 
of  social  life  and  should  not  be  subordinated  to 
any  of  them  except  as  they  clearly  voice  the 
higher  aspirations  of  society.  The  family  is 
socially  fundamental  because  from  it  must  come 
each  succeeding  generation,  and  hence  no  other 
social  institution  should  exploit  it  to  the  detri- 
ment of  society  as  a  whole.  Society  must,  as  a 
sacred  trust,  maintain  a  high  type  of  family  life 
for  the  sake  of  social  progress  and  must  safe- 
guard it  against  the  aggressions  of  other  institu- 
tions which  aim  to  subordinate  the  family  to 
their  own  peculiar  interests.  From  such  a  view- 
point the  study  of  the  family  as  a  social  institu- 
tion naturally  falls  to  the  lot  of  sociology,  which, 
using  the  scientific  methods  of  observation  and 
comparison,  adds  the  knowledge  that  comes  from 
the  study  of  the  evolution  of  the  family  as  an 
institution,  and  its  proper  relationship  to  the 
other  great  fields  of  social  activity.  Sociology  in 
its  study  should  show  the  biological  and  psycho- 
logical bases  for  the  family,  how  its  energies  may 
be  more  wisely  directed,  and  how  the  conditions 
that  retard  or  expedite  its  further  development 
may  be  utilized  for  social  progress. 


THE  FAMILIAL  GROUP  9 

Within  the  family  of  higher  civiHzation  should 
be  in  germ  those  potentialities  that  under  favor- 
ing environment  should  blossom  and  ripen  into 
work  and  play,  love  and  patriotism,  aspiration 
and  reverence,  so  that  each  member  of  it  may 
take  his  place  in  the  economic,  civic,  and  cul- 
tural life  of  his  time,  not  merely  as  a  cog  in  some 
specialized  field  of  human  activity,  but  rather  as 
a  sort  of  microcosm  in  which  is  implicit  the  mac- 
rocosm about  it,  for  the  individual  within  the 
family,  like  the  family  itself,  should  center  within 
his  own  soul  the  possibilities  of  the  whole  of  life. 
The  family  with  its  members  should  be  in  very 
truth  an  economic  band,  a  body  politic,  a  nursery 
for  religious  aspiration,  a  school  for  the  broader 
life  of  the  world,  and  a  home  of  cooperative 
activity.  In  being  so,  it  shows  itself  to  be  the  real 
social  unit,  the  germ  of  society,  the  fundamental 
social  institution  on  the  welfare  of  which  depends 
the  hope  of  continued  social  progress.  The  twen- 
tieth century  with  its  trend  toward  reorganiza- 
tion, recognizing  that  this  is  the  true  place  of  the 
family  in  society,  has  definitely  taken  up  the 
study  of  this  institution  with  all  of  its  problems, 
and  will  not  rest  satisfied  until  family  life  is  on 
a  far  higher  plane  in  Western  civilization  than  it 
has  yet  attained. 

One  obvious  result  from  these  modern  studies 
is  already  manifest.   As  a  survival  from  the  era 


,^ 


lo  THE  FAMILY 

of  ancestor  worship  men  have  been  prone  to 
exalt  the  goodness  of  past  generations  and  to 
idealize  the  men  of  that  time  by  comparison  with 
those  of  the  present.  Historical  researches  make 
it  evident  that,  with  due  respect  to  our  ancestors, 
there  never  was  a  past  generation,  taken  as  a 
whole,  that  could  compare  in  quality  with  a 
modern  generation.  The  evolutionary  theory, 
furthermore,  shows  us  that  our  best  is  before  us, 
not  behind  us,  and  hence  that  if  humanity  must 
worship  itself  it  might  better  worship  its  poster- 
ity in  preference  to  its  ancestry.  At  any  rate, 
society  is  becoming  much  more  deeply  interested 
in  the  rising  than  in  the  passing  generation,  in 
the  sense  that  it  recognizes  that  the  hope  of 
human  improvement  lies  in  the  progressive 
attainments  of  future  generations.  For  that 
reason  just  as  society  once  fought  for  the  rights 
of  man  and  now  for  the  rights  of  woman,  so  in 
the  future  it  will  demand  the  rights  of  the  child, 
insisting  that  each  have  the  right  to  a  vigorous 
and  virtuous  parentage,  to  an  intelligent  educa- 
tion, and  to  a  fair  opportunity  for  the  develop- 
ment of  inherent  capacities.  This  demand  will 
be  achieved,  not  by  any  Platonic  schemes  of 
scientific  human  breeding  on  communistic  lines, 
but  by  formulating  wise  standards  and  a  system 
of  social  control  such  that  the,  vicious  part  of 
mankind  may  be  eliminated,  and  the  conditions 


THE  FAMILIAL  GROUP  ii 

environing  family  life  so  readjusted  as  to  encour- 
age higher  standards  of  conjugal  and  parental 
obligations.  Through  scientific  information  im- 
parted through  education,  and  through  the  social 
control  exerted  through  capable  social  institu- 
tions, the  standards  of  family  life  can  be  so  greatly 
strengthened  as  to  make  possible  and  probable 
the  steady  improvement  of  each  successive  gen- 
eration of  humanity. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  FAMILY   OF    EARLY   CIVILIZATION 

Modern  problems  in  respect  to  the  family  can- 
not easily  be  understood,  unless  one  has  in  mind, 
as  a  sort  of  background,  the  history  of  the  family 
as  an  institution.  Within  the  last  fifty  years  a 
large  amount  of  research  has  been  given  to  this 
study,  but  many  questions  of  fact  are  still  un- 
settled. Rival  theories,  however,  stimulate  fur- 
ther research,  so  that  ultimately  there  should 
result  a  scientific  consensus  of  opinion,  at  least 
in  respect  to  fundamentals,  since  knowledge  of 
the  family  during  the  earliest  stage  of  human 
existence  must  obviously  remain  inexact. 

If  mankind  had  developed  its  institutions  uni- 
formly among  all  races  alike,  as  some  theorists 
too  easily  assume,  the  problem  would  be  fairly 
simple.  But  if  environmental  conditions  play  so 
large  a  part  in  determining  development  as  mod- 
ern theories  would  assert,  then  the  widely  dif- 
fering physical  conditions  environing  human 
races  must  have  produced  different  kinds  of 
development  in  different  parts  of  the  earth. 
Some  notions  of  conditions  in  those  early  centu- 


THE  PRIMITIVE  FAMILY  13 

ries  may  by  analogy  be  obtained  from  a  study 
of  the  family  as  it  exists  among  higher  forms  of 
animal  life,  as  well  as  from  existing  customs 
among  the  simpler  civilized  races  of  the  earth 
and  from  survivals  or  "  social  vestiges  "  of  ancient 
systems  found  among  more  advanced  races. 
Such  investigations  as  these,  but  covering  the 
whole  field  of  early  civilization,  have  been  vigor- 
ously pursued  by  many  special  sciences,  and 
their  united  conclusions  now  form  a  fairly  safe 
basis  on  which  may  be  constructed  the  history 
of  society.  These  sciences^  make  it  clear  that 
human  society,  with  its  social  institutions,  de- 
velops in  accord  with  the  principle  of  causation 
and  that  a  generalized  explanation  of  the  devel- 
opment of  these  institutions  can  be  given,  based 
on  what  seem  to  be  the  conclusions  most  gener- 
ally accepted.  In  presenting  the  results  of  such 
studies  in  respect  to  the  family,  no  attempt  will 
be  made  to  give  a  complete  outline  of  develop- 
ment, but  rather  to  indicate  the  main  stages  of 
domestic  history,  so  far  as  they  seem  to  have 
bearing  on  present-day  problems.  In  the  light 
of  such  an  explanation  one  may  comprehend  far 
more  clearly  the  reasons  for  present  difficulties 
in  respect  to  the  modern  transitional  family,  and 
yet  see  a  scientific  basis  for  the  hope  that  domes- 

^  As,  for  example,  Anthropology,  Ethnology,  and  kin- 
dred sciences. 


14  THE  FAMILY 

tic  institutions  are  progressing,  not  retrogress- 
ing, and  may  at  the  same  time  get  a  glimpse  of 
the  possibiHty  of  systematically  furthering  this 
progress  by  freeing  society  from  handicaps  in- 
herited from  previous  ages. 

Yet  it  may  be  well  to  emphasize  at  the  outset 
an  obvious  truth  frequently  forgotten,  namely, 
that  standards  and  teachings,  right  and  proper 
in  one  age  under  set  conditions,  may  seem  to 
another  age  entirely  wrong  and  improper.  There 
is  a  sort  of  relativity  of  truth  that  an  historical 
student  must  keep  in  mind.  If  certain  standards 
are  socially  more  useful  under  given  conditions 
than  other  standards  ideally  higher,  the  lower 
standards  are  socially  better  than  the  higher. 
If,  however,  the  given  conditions  should  improve, 
then  the  lower  standards  become  a  handicap, 
and  higher  standards  become  right.  In  past  ages, 
for  instance,  conditions  have  been  such  that  low 
ideals  of  marriage  and  crude  standards  of  sex 
morality  were  socially  more  useful  than  higher 
standards,  and  hence  in  these  days  are  not  so 
much  to  be  condemned  as  to  be  understood. 
Even  in  modern  civilization  conditions  are  such 
that  compliance  with  an  ideal  standard  of  a 
permanent  monogamous  marriage  is  difficult  for 
many  persons.  There  are  in  consequence  many 
forms  of  illegal  marriages  and  sex  perversions, 
too  often  condoned  by  average  public  opinion. 


THE  PRIMITIVE  FAMILY  15 

Such  problems  can  only  be  handled  effectively- 
by  raising  economic  and  educational  standards 
as  the  basal  condition  for  improvement  in  the 
quality  of  sex  morality. 

In  primitive  civilization,^  therefore,  one  must 
not  expect  to  find  the  high  idealism  of  races 
advanced  in  domestic  morals.  The  age  to  a  large 
degree  was  unmoral,  human  beings  followed  their 
natural  instincts,  and  had  not  yet  partaken  of 
the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  so  as  to  know 
good  and  evil.  Even  in  later  centuries  when  some 
knowledge  of  right  and  wrong  had  come  to  them 
through  intellectual  development,  it  should  be 
remembered  that  the  customs  and  standards 
used  and  enforced  by  them  represented  their 
mature  conclusions,  and  therefore  they  should  be 
respected  as  such  even  though  to  us  the  reason- 
ing seems  crude  and  the  people  immoral  in  their 
practices.  The  sex  standards  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion are  superior  to  those  of  even  the  highest 
standards  of  ancient  centuries.  Yet  in  future 
ages  they  will  presumably  seem  low  and  debasing 
according  to  the  standards  of  that  time.  With 
this  preliminary  caution  the  probable  status  of 
the  domestic  institution  in  primitive  civilization 
may  now  be  summarized. 

1  Primitive  is  often  used  in  two  senses:  (i)  as  referring 
to  the  earliest  stage  of  human  existence,  information  in 
regard  to  which  is  largely  speculative,  and  (2)  any  civiliza- 
tion whatsoever  preceding  the  patriarchal  stage. 


I6  THE  FAMILY 

The  term  "marriage"  should  not  be  applied  to 
temporary  sexual  intercourse  between  male  and 
female,  for  it  implies  a  somewhat  durable  con- 
nection based  on  mutual  needs,  the  most  funda- 
mental of  which,  historically  speaking,  are  sexual 
and  economic.  In  primitive  marriage  when  man 
was  just  emerging  from  animal  conditions,  there 
was  of  course  no  ceremonial  form  nor  set  stand- 
ard of  sex  morality.  At  natural  seasons,  when 
food  supplies  became  abundant,  the  male  wooed 
and  the  female  made  choice  from  among  her 
suitors.  In  this  way  was  formed  a  sort  of  com- 
panionship, a  copartnership  to  the  success  of 
which  both  alike  contributed.  Possession,  wont, 
and  natural  inertia  tended  to  make  the  connec- 
tion fairly  durable,  so  that  monogamy  probably 
prevailed,  though  the  conditions  of  life  were  too 
precarious  to  insure  a  lifelong  connection,  and 
marriage  may  have  lasted  no  longer  than  during 
the  immaturity  of  the  offspring.  Again,  it  is 
probable  that  sexual  passion  was  not  so  strongly 
developed  then  as  now.  The  differentiation  of 
the  sexes  was  not  so  pronounced  and  the  condi- 
tions of  existence  made  food-getting  and  safety 
from  enemies  the  absorbing  topics  of  the  mind. 
Sexual  indulgence  was  so  secondary  that  the 
passions  even  had  at  times  to  be  stimulated 
by  feastings  and  lascivious  dancing.  Marriage 
tended  to  become  durable  because  of  mutual 


THE  PRIMITIVE  FAMILY  17 

companionship,  the  protection  afforded  the  fe- 
male in  her  times  of  weakness,  and  the  economic 
advantage  derived  from  their  respective  shares 
in  food-getting.  The  male  procured  flesh  foods 
through  hunting  and  later  through  war;  the 
female  became  expert  in  the  selection  of  edible 
vegetation  and  in  devising  means  of  shelter  as 
a  home  for  her  children.  Maternal  love  was 
instinctive  and  probably  lasted  only  until  the 
young  were  able  to  care  for  themselves.  The  male 
presumably  had  no  comprehension  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  procreation,  since  that  knowledge  came 
only  after  long  reflection.  When  children  were 
born  the  male  instinctively  guarded  the  little 
band  against  attack  and  furnished  foods  for  the 
common  use.  His  interest  in  the  children  was 
secondary ;  primarily  he  hunted  and  fought  for  her, 
not  for  them.  In  fact,  she  had  not  infrequently 
to  guard  them  against  his  hostile  attacks  arising 
through  jealousy,  and  not  the  least  of  her  tasks 
was  the  necessity  of  sufficiently  domesticating 
him  so  that  he  would  respect  the  hearth  as  a 
sanctuary.  In  some  such  way  as  this,  in  the 
"golden  age"  of  human  existence  developed  the 
earliest  form  of  human  family.  Language,  in- 
vention, religion,  and  social  intercourse  were  all 
in  their  beginnings.  Intellect  had  not  developed 
sufficiently  to  give  man  more  than  a  faint  know- 
ledge of  right  or  wrong,  and  mental  energy  was 


i8  THE  FAMILY 

devoting  itself  to  food-getting,  warding  against 
enemies,  and  to  the  rudiments  of  domesticity. 

The  change  from  this  earlier  primitive  period 
came  when  a  steadily  increasing  population  faced 
the  problem  of  a  relatively  decreasing  food 
supply.  The  struggles  for  survival  under  such 
conditions  slowly  brought  about  profound  mod- 
ifications in  the  family  through  the  rise  of  newer 
organizations.  The  hunting-pack  or  band  devel- 
oped so  as  to  obtain  flesh  foods  more  easily  by 
combination.  This  band  in  case  of  necessity 
readily  became  a  war-band,  for  warring  was 
merely  an  additional  method  of  adding  to  food 
supplies  by  taking  possession  of  the  hunting- 
grounds  of  rival  bands  or  by  using  the  bodies  of 
slain  enemies  as  food,  a  natural  and  proper  cus- 
tom in  savagery.  As  a  warrior  the  male  developed 
a  fiercer  and  cruder  disposition,  while  women 
became  less  free  and  more  passive,  being  confined 
to  the  inner  circle  through  additional  labors 
and  external  dangers.  Hunting  and  war  also 
developed  greater  ingenuity  in  the  invention  of 
weapons,  since  these  often  determined  survival. 
Hunting-bands  relying  upon  their  weapons 
would  often  under  the  pressure  of  scarcity  mi- 
grate far  and  wide  in  search  of  better  hunting- 
grounds  or  safer  homes.  Women  in  their  turn, 
under  the  stimulus  of  hunger,  their  own  and  their 
children's,  hit  on  the  devices  of  domesticating 


THE  PRIMITIVE  FAMILY  19 

animals  for  food  supplies  and  of  occasionally 
cultivating  the  ground  for  the  sake  of  vegetable 
foods.  Each  of  these  great  discoveries  later 
ushered  in  new  eras  of  civilization  when  men 
were  forced  to  rely  as  their  chief  sustenance  either 
on  their  domesticated  flocks  and  herds  or  on 
edible  grains,  fruits,  and  herbs  laboriously  culti- 
vated through  manual  toil  and  rude  implements. 
Such  changing  economic  conditions  neces- 
sitated changes  in  domestic  institutions.  As  the 
work  of  civilization  began  to  multiply,  a  large 
share  of  its  burdens  devolved  on  the  woman. 
The  art  of  cooking  had  developed,  implements 
for  this  purpose  had  to  be  invented,  ornamenta- 
tion and  clothing  demanded  labor  in  preparation, 
and  the  period  of  childhood  was  prolonging  so 
as  to  allow  more  time  for  training  in  customs, 
traditions,  and  vocations.  Group  life  at  the  same 
time  tended  to  become  somewhat  artificial,  and 
systems  of  social  control  began  to  compel  con- 
formity to  custom  and  to  punish  infractions  of  it. 
Natural  leaders  came  to  the  front,  and  devised 
the  tabu  —  in  general,  a  series  of  prohibitions 
against  doing  what  was  thought  to  be  socially 
harmful.  Primitive  reasoning  was  not  always 
logical  and  its  conclusions  were  sometimes  per- 
verted for  selfish  purposes,  so  that  moral  stand- 
ards became  confused.  Men  could  no  longer  rely 
on  their  instinct  to  decide  rightly,  but  had  to 


20  THE  FAMILY 

know  the  law,  which  so  often  seemed  contrary 
to  instinct.  Such  changes  as  these  were  reflected 
in  the  family,  which  became  henceforth  a  more 
artificial  institution  than  that  founded  on  natu- 
ral instinct. 

For  human  beings  began  to  organize  them- 
selves into  kinship  bands,  basing  relationship  on 
the  natural  kinship  of  mother  and  child.  Obvi- 
ously the  child  was  born  from  its  mother  and 
was  related  to  her  and  to  other  children  born 
from  her.  The  mother  of  course  would  also  be 
related  to  the  children  of  her  daughters  and 
granddaughters.  By  emphasizing  in  this  way 
kinship  and  by  tracing  descent  from  a  common 
mother  there  developed  the  metronymic  ^  group 
in  which  kinship  is  maternal,  and  paternal  rela- 
tionships are  ignored,  being  at  that  time  un- 
known. This  metronymic  kinship  resulted  in  a 
new  form  of  marriage.  For  since  brothers  and 
sisters  reared  together  in  the  same  household 
do  not  as  a  rule  feel  sexual  promptings  towards 
one  another,  they  naturally  tend  to  marry  out- 
side of  their  own  group.  That  is,  they  became 
exogamous,  not  endogamous.  Under  such  con- 
ditions two  neighboring  and  friendly  groups  might 
easily  become  marriage  groups  to  each  other, 
the  males  from  one  marrying  the  females  of  the 
other.  As  the  children  of  the  female  belonged 
^  Mother-name. 


THE  PRIMITIVE  FAMILY  21 

to  her  kin,  not  to  the  husband's,  it  was  natural 
that  she  remain  under  the  protection  of  her  kin 
and  that  the  husband  be  looked  on  as  a  sort  of 
outsider.  Hence  the  lawful  protectors  of  a  child 
were  its  mother's  kindred,  not  its  father,  who 
had  small  place  in  the  system.  In  this  manner 
the  natural  family  of  earlier  days  was  superseded 
by  one  in  which  a  father  as  such  had  no  place  in 
his  marriage  family,  and  if  admitted  within  the 
home  had  a  somewhat  subordinate  position. 
Like  some  modern  husbands,  he  would  lodge  at 
his  wife's  house  and  was  expected  to  contribute 
generously  towards  its  maintenance,  but  was  not 
expected  to  have  much  voice  in  the  management 
of  the  household.  Hence  there  developed  the 
custom  of  demanding  services  or  gifts  from  a 
would-be  husband,  who  might  be  unceremoni- 
ously dismissed  if  his  labor  proved  unsatisfactory 
or  other  suitors  came  with  richer  gifts.  Under 
this  system  monogamy  still  prevailed,  but  as 
divorce  depended  on  mere  whim,  marriage  must 
often  have  resembled  more  a  system  of  prostitu- 
tion, which  in  fact  traces  its  beginnings  to  this 
period.  Yet  the  females  still  had  large  freedom 
in  the  choice  of  suitors  and  wooing  on  the  part  of 
the  males  was  still  necessary,  so  that  a  fair  degree 
of  equality  was  maintained  between  the  sexes. 
Furthermore  the  household  had  become  firmly 
established,  kinship  bonds  were  broadening,  the 


22  THE  FAMILY 

connection  between  mother  and  child  was  becom- 
ing more  permanent,  and  formal  instruction  in 
traditions  was  regularly  imparted  by  the  elders 
to  the  youth  at  adolescence,  when  lengthy  initia- 
tory rites  signalized  their  entrance  into  maturity. 
This  type  of  metronymic  family  flourished 
best  when  the  struggle  for  existence  was  not  too 
strenuous  and  the  kindred  in  consequence  felt 
competent  to  supply  all  of  its  members  with 
food.  Under  harsher  conditions  the  lot  of  women 
was  less  happy,  children  in  excess  became  a 
burden  and  were  put  to  death  along  with  the 
aged  and  the  inefficient.  Infanticide,  especially 
of  females,  developed;  excessive  toil  and  cruel 
treatment  became  women's  lot ;  and  suitors  who 
would  take  to  their  own  homes  their  wives  might 
be  required  to  pay  merely  nominal  gifts  or  might 
even  be  given  dowries  with  the  brides  out  of  the 
property  of  the  kinship.  Clearly  conditions  in 
such  social  groups  had  become  different;  the 
family  was  still  metronymic,  the  child  still  in 
theory  a  member  of  its  mother's  kindred  and 
under  their  protection;  but  in  actual  fact  it  was 
under  its  father's  roof,  protected  by  his  kin,  and 
the  father  had  become  a  more  important  person 
in  the  household  than  his  wife.  In  other  words, 
the  family  was  ceasing  to  be  metronymic  and 
was  becoming  patronymic.^ 

^  Father-name. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE    PATRIARCHAL  OR  PATRONYMIC  FAMILY 

Society,  In  passing  from  a  metronymic  to  a 
patronymic  social  organization,  was  deeply  in- 
fluenced by  the  economic  struggle  for  foods.  In 
the  earlier  period  humanity  existed  on  what 
nature  spontaneously  furnished,  and  progress 
consisted  in  securing  foods  through  increasing 
cunning  and  invention.  In  the  transition  to  the 
later  period  there  was  a  fierce  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, finally  changing  to  a  more  peaceful  civiliza- 
tion as  man  acquired  the  art  of  multiplymg  foods 
through  domestication  of  animals  and  then 
through  agriculture. 

In  the  transitional  period  human  savagery  had 
full  expression.  Ruthless  wars  of  extermination 
and  cannibalism  marked  the  period  and  surplus 
population  within  the  group  was  put  to  death. 
Social  regulations  placed  a  ban  on  the  marriage 
of  young  men,  resulting  in  polyandry,^  prostitu- 
tion, and  in  polygyny  ^  among  the  older  powerful 

*  A  marriage  system  in  which  a  female  has  several 
husbands. 

*  A  marriage  system  in  which  a  male  has  several  wives. 


24  THE  FAMILY 

chiefs.  Women  began  to  lose  their  importance 
in  the  social  order  and  to  become  subordinated 
to  the  males.  This  pressure  of  population  on  food 
supplies  might  easily  have  become  more  severe, 
social  regulations  far  more  rigorous,  and  cruelty 
more  terrible,  had  not  civilization  taken  the  de- 
cisive step  that  ushered  in  patriarchal  civiliz- 
ation. The  principle  that  brought  about  this 
social  "mutation"  was  the  intrusion  of  intellect- 
ual guidance  over  nature  in  its  production  of 
foods.  When  man  had  become  familiar  with  a 
reasonable  explanation  of  fatherhood  and  birth, 
it  was  but  a  step,  though  a  long  one,  to  apply  this 
knowledge  to  the  more  rapid  multiplication  of 
animals,  suitable  for  foods,  by  selecting  and  tam- 
ing species  capable  of  domestication.  Hence- 
forth man,  in  place  of  relying  on  natural  produc- 
tion, gorging  in  one  season,  starving  in  another, 
was  able  to  store  his  food  supply  into  flocks  and 
herds,  thereby  securing  a  constant  and  abundant 
source  of  flesh  and  milk. 

Under  these  new  conditions  courage  and  vigor 
were  in  demand,  since  the  race  had  of  necessity 
to  be  brave  in  the  defense  of  its  wealth  and  ag- 
gressive against  robber  bands  and  carnivorous 
beasts.  The  inert  and  the  cowardly  were  killed, 
or  as  slaves  received  life  in  return  for  labor.  In 
this  way  developed  a  breed  of  masterly  men  who 
loved  war  with  its  turmoil  and  bloodshed  and 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  FAMILY        25 

who  ruled  with  an  iron  hand  over  slave  and 
family  alike.  These  dominating  males,  as  war- 
riors, priests,  and  judges,  were  the  heads  of 
powerful  families  and  groups,  owning  slaves, 
flocks  and  herds,  and  wide  areas  of  grazing-lands. 
To  the  male  the  wild  free  life  of  nomadism  was 
the  joyous  period  of  human  existence,  but,  un- 
fortunately for  him,  when  once  again  the  press- 
ure of  population  on  foods  increased,  reluctantly 
he  had  to  enter  upon  the  monotonous  round  of 
agriculture  with  its  newer  and  laborious  occupa- 
tions, so  as  to  eke  out  his  diminishing  food  sup- 
plies. Thus  there  came  a  steady  encroachment 
of  agriculture  on  pasturage  until  of  necessity 
grain  foods  became  "the  staff  of  life."  Yet  this 
change  had  its  compensations,  since  every  man 
who  expended  labor  and  thought  in  agriculture 
secured  grain  for  himself  and  his  cattle  in  such 
abundance  that  famine  seemed  inconceivable, 
unless  perchance  nature  would  prove  unpropi- 
tlous  and  would  fail  to  supply  its  wonted  crops. 
Even  this  possibility  seemed  remote  enough, 
since  religion  assured  him  of  bountiful  harvests, 
if  only  he  were  generous  to  the  gods  in  gifts  and 
sacrifices.  For  the  period  of  ancestor  worship 
had  come,  and  a  man's  most  familiar  gods  were 
of  his  own  kith  and  kin,  propitious  and  kindly  as 
long  as  they  received  from  him  due  veneration 
and  needed  offerings.   Even  the  great  divinities 


26  THE  FAMILY 

of  nature  showered  blessings  upon  him  richly, 
for  the  secrets  of  the  supernatural  were  no  longer 
altogether  hidden  from  human  knowledge,  since 
wise  seers  were  at  hand  who  knew  the  will  of  the 
gods  and  could  teach  him  the  paths  whereby  he 
might  avoid  their  anger. 

This  new  type  of  civilization  brought  about  a 
corresponding  modification  in  mentality,  since 
the  qualifications  needed  for  the  occupation  of 
farming  were  quite  different  from  those  needed 
in  grazing.  The  substitution  also  of  a  diet  largely 
vegetal  instead  of  flesh  would  itself  have  marked 
effects  on  physique  and  mentality.  Patient  en- 
durance in  toil,  perseverance,  forethought,  and 
a  reliance  on  the  supernatural  world  about  them 
became  requisites  for  survival,  while  a  more 
leisurely  and  peaceful  existence  gave  time  for 
reflection.  Under  such  conditions  social  life 
assumed  a  stability  hitherto  unknown,  and  be- 
cause it  was  stable  it  became  comprehensible. 
Men  walked  in  the  realm  of  the  known;  rules, 
customs,  and  maxims  became  set,  and  wisdom 
consisted  not  so  much  in  reflecting  on  the  new 
as  in  conning  over  the  teachings  of  the  past,  so 
as  to  fix  in  memory  the  sayings  of  one's  ances- 
tors. 

So  rapidly  did  population  multiply  under  its 
improved  conditions  that  the  new  type  of  civiliza- 
tion took  possession  of  the  habitable  earth  and 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  FAMILY        27 

established  itself  so  firmly  that  even  now  the 
larger  half  of  mankind  lives  in  a  patriarchal  agri- 
cultural civilization.   In  consequence,  even  down 
to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  tradi- 
tions of  early  metronymic  civilization  had  passed 
from  men's  minds.    From  time  immemorial  the 
patronymic   or    patriarchal    system    had    been 
taught  through  sacred  books  and  classical  in- 
struction without  a  thought  of  a  still  earlier  stage 
of  civilization.   Complete  or  partial  metronymic 
systems  exist  even  now  among  almost  one  fourth 
of  the  world's  population,  but  these,  when  noted 
at  all,  were  considered  to  be  merely  degenerations 
from  the  dominant  type.   The  metronymic  ele- 
ment running  throughout  the  historical  accounts 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  found  in  the  early 
histories   of    practically    all    patriarchal    races, 
excited  no  curiosity  except  as  puzzles  awaiting 
the  solution  of  scholars.    Only  when  the  scien- 
tific method  of  comparison  was  applied  to  the 
study  of  human  history  did  it  become  possible 
to  get  a  truer  insight  into  the  development  of  the 
family  as  an  institution.   Through  this  method, 
however,  a  new  world  of  knowledge  is  opening 
up,  as  it  were,  before  the  modern  student  of 
society.   The  present  is  becoming  better  known 
through  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  past, 
and  from  the  basis  of  this  larger  knowledge  an 
insight  into  the  future  becomes  possible. 


28  THE  FAMILY 

Yet  in  the  general  subjection  of  women  there 
was  a  darker  aspect  to  patriarchal  civiHzation. 
There  is  much  truth  in  the  statement  that  the 
quaHty  of  any  given  civilization  may  be  estim- 
ated from  the  status  of  its  women.  About  one 
half  of  a  population  is  feminine  and  it  largely 
dictates  the  quality  of  home  life  enjoyed  by  the 
males  and  the  kind  of  education  imparted  to  the 
next  generation.  In  that  fierce  transition  from 
metronymic  conditions  to  nomadism  when  the 
principle  of  vce  victis  was  the  only  war  code  in 
use,  marriageable  women  were  in  practice  seldom 
slaughtered  as  were  the  males,  but  were  enslaved 
as  concubines  of  the  conquerors.  Plainly  the 
children  of  these  subordinate  wives  could  in  no 
sense  be  considered  as  the  property  of  her  kin- 
dred. They  belonged  to  their  mother's  owner, 
were  born  under  his  roof,  and  were  his  to  keep, 
kill,  or  sell  at  his  good  pleasure.  Again,  patri- 
archal civilization  was  characterized  by  the 
definite  rise  of  private  property,  so  that  it  was 
not  always  necessary  for  a  man  to  capture  his 
wife  or  wives  in  war.  They  might  be  purchased 
either  in  the  slave  market  or  from,  poorer  fam- 
ilies, who  would  be  glad  to  receive  a  price  for  a 
commodity  the  supply  of  which  was  greater  than 
the  demand.  Ownership,  whether  through  cap- 
ture or  purchase,  made  the  family  patronymic, 
not  metronymic.    Doubtless  for  many  ages  the 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  FAMILY        29 

two  systems  existed  side  by  side.^  A  man  might 
have  a  metronymic  wife  whose  children  counted 
as  members  of  her  kin,  and  at  the  same  time  he 
might  have  several  slave  wives  whose  children 
would  be  patronymic.  Yet  the  increasing  sub- 
jection of  the  female  worked  against  the  former 
system,  and  the  male  either  in  fact  or  in  form 
ended  by  buying  his  wife  or  wives,  so  that  their 
children  became  legally  his  and  bore  his  name. 

Thus  as  long  as  there  was  a  "golden  age"  with 
a  simple  life  in  the  midst  of  abundant  natural 
foods,  the  metronymic  family  of  a  monogamous 
type  developed  spontaneously;  but  when  the 
struggle  for  survival  and  existence  began,  the 
metronymic  system  tended  to  break  down  and 
the  comparatively  free  woman  of  the  earlier 
period  became  more  and  more  a  subordinate  or  a 
slave.  In  place  of  a  personal  choice  in  marriage 
she  was  compelled  to  take  whatever  husband 
chance  or  fortune  dictated.  Her  initiative  in  the 
household  became  compulsory  devotion  to  routine 
within  a  somewhat  narrow  sphere.  She  no  longer 
had  a  voice  in  the  duration  of  marriage,  since  that 
depended  on  the  whim  of  her  husband,  who  could 
make  her  lot  hard  or  easy  at  his  will.  Her  duties 

*  In  modern  law  a  child  born  outside  of  legtiimate  wed- 
lock, whose  father  is  unknown,  is  metronymic.  The  sam* 
male,  therefore,  may  chance  to  be  the  father  of  a  patro- 
nymic legitimate  child  and  an  illegitimate  metronymic  child. 


30  THE  FAMILY 

were  regularly  so  exacting  that  she  became  pre- 
maturely old  and  then  might  be  supplanted  in 
the  household  by  a  younger  wife  more  attractive 
to  her  husband.  Thus  the  natural  love  marriage 
of  earlier  civilization  was  yielding  to  one  in 
which  sensuality  and  sexual  indulgence  played 
an  increasing  part  among  the  wealthy  and 
powerful;  the  male  no  longer  had  to  woo;  he 
selected  according  to  his  own  standards,  and  the 
woman  was  passively  submissive.  Yet  among 
the  masses  of  men  monogamy  survived,  since 
the  marriage  basis  had  become  largely  economic 
and  the  maintenance  of  more  than  one  wife 
became  too  expensive  for  the  ordinary  man. 
Women  were  therefore  chosen  on  the  basis  of 
their  economic  capacity,  and  the  more  capable 
were  selected  as  wives;  the  others  were  either 
sold  by  their  parents  as  secondary  wives  to  the 
wealthy,  or  else  became  prostitutes  and  earned 
in  that  fashion  a  precarious  living. 

The  status  of  women  of  native  stock  was  of 
course  made  worse  by  the  incoming  of  women  of 
foreign  birth  through  slavery.  There  is  no  more 
pernicious  influence  in  its  effects  on  domestic 
standards  than  the  enslavement  of  females. 
Racial  progress  largely  depends  on  a  free  mutual 
choice  in  marriage;  but  the  slavery  of  women 
thwarts  this  by  making  her  submissive  to  any 
master  who  will  pay  her  price  in  the  market. 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  FAMILY        31 

Under  such  a  system,  with  its  inevitable  sexual 
excesses,  a  slave  woman  had  no  rights  that  a  free 
man  was  bound  to  respect,  so  that  a  polygynous 
system  is  at  war  with  the  best  instincts  of  woman. 
It  degrades  most  of  the  wives  to  a  position  of 
servility,  and  it  results  in  offspring  poorly 
equipped  by  birth  and  training  for  the  larger 
affairs  of  life.  Then,  too,  sexualism^  becomes 
rampant  among  males,  since  they  live  constantly 
in  an  atmosphere  surcharged  with  sexual  sug- 
gestion and  under  conditions  rife  with  licentious- 
ness, enervation,  and  disease.  Presumably  races 
possessed  of  great  hordes  of  slaves  may  acquire 
wealth  for  a  time  through  their  labor,  but  ultim- 
ately they  pay  the  price  in  racial  exhaustion  and 
national  degeneracy. 

Yet  in  patriarchal  civilization,  wherever  mar- 
riage was  monogamous,  as  it  was  of  necessity 
among  the  poor  who  lived  a  simple  and  frugal  life, 
a  woman's  lot  was  not  necessarily  unbearable,  for 
her  evident  utility  and  natural  capacity  would 
make  her  status  approximate  to  that  of  her  hus- 
band. As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  any  polygamous 
society  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  population 
will  be  monogamous  through  poverty. ^    In  these 

^  A  word  used  to  emphasize  the  vicious  aspects  of  sex- 
uality; suggested  to  the  writer  by  the  Hon.  T.  W.  Bicknell 
of  Providence. 

'  Howard,  vol.  r,  p.  142;  over  ninety-five  per  cent. 


32  THE  FAMILY 

families  there  might  naturally  be  expected  a  fair 
amount  of  equality  between  husband  and  wife, 
since  they  live  and  work  together  and  have  their 
children  under  joint  care  and  protection.  Still, 
if  the  woman  is  inferior  by  law  and  custom  and 
if  sexualism  is  general  through  slavery,  then  her 
position  as  wife  and  mother  becomes  very  in- 
secure, for  divorce  is  an  ever  present  possibility. 
A  population  made  up  largely  of  slaves,  a  priv- 
ileged class  monopolizing  wealth,  and  a  public 
opinion  convinced  of  the  essential  inferiority  of 
the  female  sex,  are  social  conditions  that  slowly 
sap  the  energy  of  a  race  and  retard  the  upward 
course  of  its  domestic  standards. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  said  that  the  broad 
term  "patriarchal  civilization"  includes  many 
varieties  of  this  most  important  stage  of  social 
development.  Each  set  of  conditions  would  pre- 
sent its  own  modification  of  the  generalized 
type.  When  nomadism  prevailed,  and  pastoral 
rather  than  agricultural  occupations,  the  familial 
institution  would  retain  many  survivals  of  me- 
tronymic conditions.  The  height  of  patriarchal 
supremacy  came  in  the  stage  when  men  settled 
down  into  fixed  abodes  and  gained  their  liveli- 
hood from  their  arable  lands,  but  throughout  the 
entire  period  the  family  was  in  general  patro- 
nymic, the  male  sex  dominated,  women  and 
children  were  subordinated  to  the  head  of  the 


THE  PATRIARCHAL  FAMILY        33 

family,  and  the  real  center  of  social  life  was  the 
family,  to  which  were  united  ancestral  religious 
rites  and  civic  responsibilities  in  respect  to  life 
and  death.  For  some  races  a  still  later  stage  of 
civilization  developed  when  the  rural  occupa- 
tions of  grazing  and  farming  became  subordinate 
to  the  urban  vocations  involved  in  commerce 
and  manufactures;  but  this  period  marks  the 
decline  of  patriarchal  and  the  rise  of  modern 
civilization.  The  patriarchal  family,^  therefore, 
is  of  primary  importance,  not  only  because  it  is 
the  type  numerically  prevailing  throughout  the 

*  There  are  many  excellent  studies  of  the  numerous 
races  of  patriarchal  civilization  and  from  these  a  few  may 
be  mentioned  as  typical,  though  full  biographical  lists  may 
be  found  in  the  first  volume  of  Howard's  Matrimonial 
Institutions. 

Morgan's  Ancient  Society  is  one  of  the  most  famous  of 
these  works,  tracing  the  development  of  the  family  and 
comparing,  as  it  does,  the  family  of  the  Iroquois  Indians  of 
New  York  with  the  families  of  classical  Greece  and  Rome. 
The  social  institutions  of  these  last  two  races  are  explained 
also  by  Fustel  de  Coulanges  in  his  Ancient  City,  in  which 
especial  attention  is  paid  to  a  study  of  ancestor  worship. 
Robertson  Smith,  in  his  Kinship  and  Marriage  of  Early 
Arabia,  discusses  the  metronymic  survivals  in  the  family 
organization  of  Arabian  nomadic  tribes;  Louis  Wallis,  in 
his  Sociological  Study  of  the  Bible,  explains  in  a  similar  way 
the  development  of  the  ancient  Hebraic  family;  Keller,  in 
his  Homeric  Society,  and  Gummere,  in  Germanic  Origins, 
present  sociological  studies  of  the  institutions  of  those 
semi-patriarchal  tribes,  and  Hearn,  in  his  Aryan  Household, 
sets  forth  a  somewhat  idealized  study  of  our  hypothetical 
distant  ancestors. 


34  THE  FAMILY 

earth,  but  because  in  the  main  the  family  of 
Western  civilization  is  a  modification  of  it.  These 
modifications  are,  however,  so  important  that  a 
new  and  possibly  higher  type  of  family  may  be 
said  to  be  in  process  of  formation. 


CHAPTER   IV 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  MODERN  FAMILY 

The  natural  or  physical  basis  of  marriage  is, 
of  course,  permanent.  As  long  as  humanity 
exists  on  the  earth,  the  fundamental  feelings  of 
hunger  and  love  will  energize  human  action. 
Under  purely  natural  conditions  these  feelings 
may  be  relied  on  for  the  accomplishment  of  a 
certain  degree  of  social  progress,  but  in  the  growth 
in  civilization  man  devised  in  the  interest  of 
order  a  series  of  regulations  over  human  activ- 
ities. These  might  be  based  not  only  on  errors 
in  judgment  through  imperfect  reasoning,  but 
even  might  be  intentionally  partial  in  favor  of  a 
privileged  individual,  or  a  class,  or  one  ambitious 
institution  as  against  another.  By  long  experi- 
ence mankind  has  learned  that,  on  the  whole, 
marriage  and  its  related  interests  might  better 
be  left  for  regulation  to  the  families  and  individ- 
uals most  directly  concerned,  in  preference  to 
undue  regulation  by  other  institutions. 

Throughout  patriarchal  civilization  it  will  be 
found,  for  example,  that  as  a  rule  marriage  is 
under  the  control  of  the  families  interested,  with 


36  THE  FAMILY 

a  minimum  of  regulation  or  suggestion  from  state 
or  church.  The  state  may  wish  to  understand 
clearly  who  are  of  legal  birth  and  who  are  en- 
titled to  inherit  property,  but  the  customs  regu- 
lating these  are  grown,  not  created  by  legislation, 
and  are  based  on  the  practices  and  decisions  of 
family  groups  and  councils.  Religion,  also,  with 
its  deep  interest  in  the  continuance  of  ancestral 
worship,  may  countenance  and  bless  marriages 
sanctioned  by  custom,  but  by  its  approval  would 
add  nothing  to  the  validity  of  the  marriage.  Yet 
with  the  passing  of  patriarchal  customs,  Western 
civilization  has  tended  to  regulate  marriage  some- 
what more  in  detail,  since  modern  families  do 
not  have  the  stability  or  the  authority  exercised 
in  earlier  centuries,  and  since  individuals,  under 
the  pressure  of  their  own  interests  and  passions, 
are  not  always  reliable  judges  of  what  is  socially 
right  or  wrong.  This  larger  field  of  social  control 
fell  to  the  lot  of  church  and  state,  sometimes 
cooperating  as  friendly  institutions,  at  other 
times  rivaling  each  other  in  a  struggle  for  su- 
premacy. Both  state  and  church  in  the  course 
of  centuries  have  tried  many  experiments  in 
regulation,  and  the  results  have  not  been  alto- 
gether satisfactory.  This  statement  may  become 
more  clear  by  tracing  the  trend  of  social  regula- 
tion in  respect  to  the  family  of  Western  civiliza- 
tion. 


THE  MODERN  FAMILY  37 

This  family,  though  influenced  somewhat  by 
Hebraic  and  Greek  teachings,  is  fundamentally 
based  on  Roman  and  Germanic  standards  and 
customs.  Early  Latin  traditions  represent  that 
civilization  as  first  nomadic  and  then  agricul- 
tural. During  this  period  is  depicted  a  perman- 
ent monogamous  family  of  chaste  standards, 
solidified  by  ancestral  worship  and  compact  kin- 
ship ties.  In  the  first  five  hundred  years  of  Roman 
legal  development,  four  forms  of  marriage  arose, 
one  after  the  other,  illustrating  in  their  varying 
standards  the  changing  ideals  of  domestic  rela- 
tionship, (i)  The  earliest  known  form  of  mar- 
riage, the  conferreatio,  was  confined  to  the  patri- 
cians, and  in  the  main  represented  a  familiar 
patriarchal  ceremonial  form:  it  included  traces 
of  survivals  of  capture  marriage,  the  procession 
escorting  the  bride  to  the  bridegroom's  home, 
and  religious  ceremonies  such  as  her  introduc- 
tion to  the  hearth  and  ancestral  gods  of  her  new 
family.  This  form  disappeared  from  common 
use  quite  early  in  Roman  history  except  that  it 
long  survived  as  a  sacred  form  of  marriage  for 
those  families  that  aspired  to  priestly  ofifice. 
Among  the  population  below  the  patrician  rank 
prevailed  two  other  forms  of  marriage  ceremony 
and  these  in  time  became  common  among  patri- 
cians also.  (2)  In  one  of  these,  the  coemptio,  or 
purchase  form,  the  parties  concerned,  in  the  pre- 


38  THE  FAMILY 

sence  of  a  magistrate  and  witnesses,  went  through 
the  form  of  a  sale  of  the  bride  to  the  groom,  a  sur- 
vival, doubtless,  of  an  earlier  practice  of  a  real 
purchase.  In  this  form,  which  also  became  obso- 
lete somewhat  early,  the  state  is  present  in  the 
magistrate,  who,  however,  acts  merely  as  a 
recorder  of  sale  and  purchase  and  had  no  other 
authority  over  the  marriage.  (3)  A  still  more 
popular  form  existed  in  the  usus,  in  which  the 
law  assumed  that  a  legal  marriage  existed  after 
cohabitation  as  man  and  wife  for  the  space  of  one 
year.  Under  these  three  forms  of  marriage  the 
wife  came  to  be  directly  under  the  power  and 
authority  of  her  husband  {in  manu  viri).  Divorce 
was  possible  but  was  rarely  used  in  the  first  form, 
though  more  common  under  the  other  two. 
The  power  of  divorce  lay  with  the  husband, 
though  he  was  guided  in  his  decision  by  a  family 
council  composed  of  relatives  of  both  parties. 
Whatever  dowry  he  received  with  his  wife  was 
generally  returned  at  divorce,  a  real  deterrent 
unless,  as  in  Cicero's  case,  the  husband  had  in 
view  another  prospective  wife  with  a  larger 
dowry.  (4)  At  an  uncertain  date,  but  about  the 
time  when  Rome  definitely  embarked  on  a 
policy  of  territorial  extension  beyond  Italy 
through  conquest,  a  new  form  of  marriage  *  arose 
which  soon  became  and  remained  the  dominant 
^  Matrimonium  sine  conventione  in  manum  marili. 


THE  MODERN  FAMILY  39 

form  throughout  the  later  Republic  and  the 
Empire.  Under  the  usus  marriage,  a  wife,  by 
absenting  herself  for  three  consecutive  nights 
from  the  bed  of  her  husband,  continued  to  be  his 
wife,  but  did  not  pass  under  his  legal  authority, 
remaining  under  the  authority  of  her  own  family. 
This  fourth  form  of  marriage  consisted  in  a  usus 
marriage  in  which  the  privilege  of  the  trinoctium 
had  not  been  used,  but  yet  the  wife  legally  did 
not  become  subject  to  her  husband.  This  be- 
came, therefore,  a  marriage  contracted  at  the 
will  of  the  parties  directly  concerned,  in  which 
both  man  and  wife  were  equal  partners,  since 
the  wife  was  legally  independent  of  her  husband, 
and  remained  under  the  authority  of  her  own 
family  or  guardian.  These  last  three  forms  of 
marriage  were  perfectly  legal  and  respectable ;  in 
each  case  there  was  a  formal  betrothal;  but  by 
slow  change  of  custom  the  wife  gradually  be- 
came a  free  person  equal  in  the  eyes  of  the  law  to 
her  husband,  and  marriage  was  a  mutual  priv- 
ate contract  needing  no  authorization  from 
either  priest  or  magistrate. 

This  modification  in  marriage  forms  typifies 
changes  that  had  taken  place  in  the  domestic 
institution  as  a  whole.  In  the  early  Roman  sys- 
tem the  patronymic-patriarchal  idea  had  been 
carried  to  an  extreme.  The  pater  was  the  ruling 
head  of  his  familia,  which  consisted  of  wife,  child- 


40  THE  FAMILY 

ren,  dependents,  or  clients  and  slaves.    His  au- 
thority (patria  potestas)  was  supreme  through- 
out his  entire  life,  though  in  important  matters 
affecting  the  family  as  a  whole  he  would  consult 
with  a  council  selected  from  his  gens  or  kindred 
outside  of  his  own  familia.    Relationship  was 
agnatic,  that  is,  traced  through  males  only,  even 
a  wife  being    legally  classed  as  her  husband's 
daughter.  But,  as  may  be  traced  in  the  changing 
legal  customs  of  the  citizenship  body,  this  highly 
artificial  system  became  slowly  modified  into  one 
much  more  natural  and  flexible.    Without  tracing 
details,  the  trend  was  in  the  direction  of  subjecting 
to  some  extent  the  family  to  the  state  through 
the  introduction  of  general  regulations:  rights 
were  secured  to  children  and  even  to  slaves  as 
against  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  father  and 
master;  kinship  was  broadened  so  as  to  include 
cognates  as  well  as  agnates,  that  is  kinship  was 
traced  through  both  parents;  and  the  wife  was 
secured   in   her   personal    and    property   rights 
through  the  legal  recognition  of  the  fourth  form 
of  marriage. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  long  as  Roman  life 
remained  simple  and  purely  patriarchal,  empha- 
sizing as  ideals  devotion  to  ancestral  gods,  to 
one's  kin,  and  to  the  civitas  or  state,  moral  stand- 
ards remained  high  and  family  life  though  stern 
was  just,  a  sort  of  Roman  puritanism.  But  when 


THE  MODERN  FAMILY  41 

Rome  embarked  on  a  career  of  conquest,  a  rapid 
and  demoralizing  change  took  place.  The  sturdy 
farming  stock  of  early  Rome  was  soon  depleted 
in  numerous  wars,  plebeians  and  even  freedmen 
began  to  acquire  the  rights  of  citizenship,  slaves 
poured  into  the  Republic  through  conquest,  and 
soon  ancient  standards  of  morals  had  become 
largely  a  tradition.  Ancestral  worship  and  kin- 
ship ties  became  mere  forms  as  adoption  became 
usual,  and  Oriental  worship  with  its  many  lasciv- 
ious rites  crept  in  and  supplanted  in  popular 
regard  Roman  divinities.  Slavery,  also,  with  its 
inevitable  concubinage  and  prostitution,  furn- 
ished every  facility  for  sexual  immorality  and 
profligacy.  The  rural  population,  unable  to  com- 
pete with  slave  labor,  drifted  to  the  cities,  too 
often  into  the  slums.  Economic  occupations  in 
trade  and  manufactures  were  largely  monop- 
olized by  men  of  alien  stock,  since  such  vocations 
were  not  considered  as  honorable  pursuits  for 
citizens.  The  state,  enriched  by  wealth  plundered 
from  the  provinces  or  won  as  booty  from  the 
conquered,  developed  a  citizenship  of  two  classes : 
a  wealthy  class,  with  its  mass  of  parasites,  rioting 
in  luxury,  and  a  demoralized  proletariat  living 
largely  on  public  bounty. 

Urban  life  to  a  large  extent  became  degenerate ; 
presumably  in  the  survivals  of  middle-class  life 
and  in  rural  sections  of  the  Empire  a  fair  degree 


42  THE  FAMILY 

of  family  purity  and  of  moral  standards  was  main- 
tained, but  little  is  known  of  these  by  contrast 
with  the  glaring  sins  of  the  perverted  degenerates 
of  the  time.  There  is  a  "yellow  "  literature  as  well 
as  a  "yellow  journalism,"  and  from  it  one  learns 
much  of  national  corruption,  but  little  of  the 
solid  virtues  existing  by  its  side.  A  similar  state- 
ment would  be  true  in  respect  to  the  morality  of 
Roman  women.  These  in  the  earlier  centuries 
had  been  famous  for  their  virtue  and  devotion 
to  family  and  country.  It  was  fitting,  there- 
fore, that  a  woman  should  have  equal  rights  in 
the  marriage  relation  for  her  own  sake  and  for 
the  sake  of  her  children.  These  were  won  through 
the  introduction  of  the  contract  marriage  already 
mentioned,  which  allowed  her  an  equal  voice  in 
marriage  and  divorce  and  rights  over  her  own 
property  and  children.  Yet  in  times  of  profligacy 
woman's  freedom  easily  became  the  means 
whereby  she  might  "count  her  years  by  the 
number  of  husbands  she  had  had."  On  the  other 
hand,  husbands  had  had  the  same  right  of  divorce 
for  centuries  and  had  often  exercised  it.  In  any 
case,  under  the  immoral  conditions  of  the  time  it 
was  perhaps  a  matter  of  small  consequence 
whether  adultery  and  fornication  took  place 
illegally  or  through  a  system  of  annual  divorces. 
The  rights  won  by  women  were  necessary  and 
proper;  the  times  were  what  they  were,  not  be- 


THE  MODERN  FAMILY  43 

cause  of  the  existence  of  these  rights,  but  because 
of  the  demoraUzation  wrought  through  the  intro- 
duction of  unearned  wealth  and  slavery.    Rome 
had  built  up  moral  and  religious  standards  suited 
'  to  a  patriarchal  civilization,  which  had  suddenly 
changed   through   conquest   into   a   civilization 
based  on  plunder  supplemented  by  commerce 
and  manufactures,  and  contaminated  by  Ori- 
ental vice.    No  moral  standards  suited  to  the 
new  conditions  were  established ;  the  old  became 
less  and  less  applicable  in  detail,   and   finally 
every  man  did  what  seemed  right  in  his  own 
eyes,  guided  somewhat  in  higher  morals  by  tradi- 
tions of  ancient  standards  and  by  the  teachings 
of  Greek  philosophers  in  the  forms  of  Epicurean- 
ism and  Stoicism.   Western  civilization  was  suc- 
cumbing to  the  flood  tides  of  sexual  depravity, 
and  the  Roman  race  had  become  a  mongrel  stock, 
enervated   and   effeminate,   awaiting   decay  or 
extermination. 

Standards  of  law  and  of  political  imperialistic 
administration  formed  the  best  contribution 
made  by  Rome  to  modern  civilization.  Racial 
strength  came  not  from  Rome  but  for  the  most 
part  from  those  Keltic,  Gallic,  and  Germanic 
tribes  whose  names  are  so  interwoven  with 
Roman  history.  The  Germans  were  the  most 
warlike  among  these,  being  still  largely  in  the 
hunting-pastoral  stage.  The  others  had  advanced 


44  THE  FAMILY 

farther  in  civilization  and  were  settled  into  defin- 
ite communities  engaged  in  grazing  and  farm- 
ing. As  might  be  expected  in  that  simple  life, 
the  monogamous  family  prevailed;  the  women, 
though  subordinated  to  the  males,  yet  had  large 
freedom  and  influence  and  had  a  distinct  voice 
in  the  choice  of  husbands;  marriage  was  per- 
formed with  set  rites  under  the  fiction  of  a  sale 
by  the  father  or  guardian  to  the  husband.  Writ- 
ers have  noted  many  survivals  of  metronymic, 
group  and  capture  marriages,  but  fundamentally 
the  family  was  patronymic  and  mildly  patri- 
archal. As  always  in  early  civilization,  marriage 
contracts  concerned  the  family  only;  neither 
state  nor  religion  had  any  voice  in  the  matter. 
Magistrates  might  be  present  to  honor,  and 
priests  to  bless,  but  the  sanction  of  the  marriage 
lay  in  the  agreement  and  will  of  the  families  and 
individuals  concerned.  Chastity  was  demanded 
from  the  woman  and  adultery  punished  with 
death,  though  this  crime  on  the  part  of  the  man 
might  be  atoned  for  by  a  fine.  Aside  from  adul- 
tery he  had  his  own  standard  of  sex  morality, 
a  much  lower  one  than  that  allowed  to  women. 
Divorce  was  in  his  hands  and  any  cause  satis- 
factory to  him  was  sufficient,  though  he  natur- 
ally had  to  take  into  account  the  vengeance  of 
his  wife's  kin  if  she  were  wantonV  divorced. 
There  was  no  peculiar  innate  virtue  in  these 


THE  MODERN  FAMILY  45 

races.  Under  similar  conditions  all  over  the 
world  might  be  expected  a  family  of  similar 
moral  standards.  Tribes  and  clans  of  kindred 
blood,  fairly  equal  in  social  standing  and  living 
a  strenuous  life  in  the  midst  of  constant  danger, 
naturally  develop  monogamous  families  in  which 
each  person  has  regard  for  the  rights  of  his 
friends  and  kinsmen,  and  no  one  has  wealth  and 
leisure  enough  to  make  sexual  excesses  an  end  in 
life.  The  danger  comes  when  through  successful 
war  plundered  wealth  frees  men  from  irksome 
toil,  captured  women  become  concubines,  and 
subjugated  races  furnish  numerous  opportunities 
for  slavery  and  unbridled  lust.  Under  such  con- 
ditions men  readily  become  demoralized  and 
their  immoralities  pass  by  social  contagion  to  the 
women  of  the  community.  It  goes  without  argu- 
ment presumably  that  the  women  of  a  race  never 
become  loose  and  wanton  until  after  the  men  have 
set  them  the  example.  In  fact,  it  is  becoming  in- 
creasingly difficult  in  modern  days  to  demand  with 
a  good  face  that  women  shall  remain  virtuous 
whose  husbands  are  not,  so  that  the  alternative 
is  presented  of  allowing  a  single  standard  of  low 
grade  in  sex  morality  for  both  sexes  alike,  or  of  in- 
sisting on  a  single  standard  of  high  grade  for  male 
as  for  female.  The  former  alternative  spells  degrad- 
ation for  the  race,  and  the  latter  the  attainment 
of  a  much  higher  morality  than  at  present  exists. 


46  THE  FAMILY 

These  barbarian  races  by  contact  with  Roman 
civilization  experienced  the  vicissitudes  of  chang- 
ing moral  standards.  When  conquered  they  were 
subjected  to  all  the  cruelties  involved  in  Roman 
massacre  and  slavery;  when  conquerors,  at  the 
overthrow  of  the  Roman  Empire,  they  came  in 
contact  with  a  degenerate  and  depraved  people 
and  their  morality  was  not  helped  thereby.  For 
centuries  a  conflict  of  moral  standards  and  civil- 
izations was  silently  fought,  and  from  it  finally 
emerged  the  modern  European  nations,  neither 
so  vicious  as  the  Romans  nor  so  virtuous  as  the 
barbarians,  but  containing  in  their  civilization 
a  generous  admixture  of  both  elements.  The 
problem  from  that  time  forth  was  to  raise  the 
standards  of  domestic  morals  and  to  that  task 
religion  and  democracy  were  addressing  them- 
selves. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    FAMILY   AND   RELIGION 

In  primitive  civilization  religion  had  been  a 
composite  of  many  elements.  On  all  sides  were 
mysterious  and  malevolent  beings  who  must  be 
propitiated  and  at  the  best  would  dole  out  nig- 
gard blessings.  By  magic,  ofiferings,  and  sacrifice, 
by  due  rites  and  ceremony,  much  might  be  done 
to  ward  off  evil,  but  misery  even  so  was  surer  than 
happiness,  for  the  gods  were  many  and  hostile 
to  man;  and  it  was  largely  luck  or  fate  that  de- 
termined the  affairs  of  life,  since  the  gods  were 
often  at  variance  one  with  another.  Yet  there 
arose  slowly  in  men's  minds  thoughts  of  a  per- 
manent element  in  the  supernatural.  They  be- 
gan to  exalt  among  the  gods  those  energies  in 
nature  that  seemed  to  them  uniformly  powerful; 
the  heavens,  the  sun  and  moon,  the  storm  and 
the  fire,  especially  appealed  to  them,  and  these 
they  personified  and  exalted  above  other  gods. 

There  was,  however,  one  fascinating  problem 
quite  incomprehensible  that  made  religion  to 
everyone  a  heartfelt  experience  —  the  problem 
of  life  and  birth  and  death.  With  childlike  curi- 


48  THE  FAMILY 

osity  they  asked  how  Hfe  began  in  man,  and  in 
the  animal  and  plant  world  around  them.  They 
thought  out  theories  of  human  origin,  and,  long 
before  Darwin,  asserted  that  man  sprung  from 
beasts,  through  supernatural  agency,  and  hence 
arose  the  worship  of  the  totem  as  emblematic  of 
one's  remote  ancestors.  But  when  the  male's 
part  in  procreation  became  known,  worship  was 
gradually  transferred  from  the  totem  to  male 
ancestry,  since  it  was  then  believed  that  the  male 
was  the  really  important  agent  in  parenthood, 
the  female  being  merely  the  temporary  carrier 
and  sustainer  of  the  life  imparted.  But  there 
were  still  other  mysteries  demanding  explana- 
tion; the  meaning  of  life  itself,  the  attraction 
existing  between  the  sexes,  and  yet  the  necessity 
of  subordinating  the  passion  of  love  to  demands 
made  by  the  group  in  regulation  of  marriage. 
In  seeking  to  answer  these  problems  there  de- 
veloped throughout  advancing  civilization  a  wor- 
ship of  the  creative  principle,  symbolized  often 
by  the  phallus,  but  frequently  personified  in  some 
god  or  goddess  of  love.  The  excesses  generated 
in  this  worship  found  an  opposing  principle  in 
the  worship  of  a  goddess  of  marriage,  who  pro- 
tected the  normal  and  socially  sanctioned  form 
of  love  as  against  the  growing  licentiousness 
of  phallic  worship.  Thus  arose  definitely  the 
antagonism  between  sexual  practices  irrespect- 


THE  FAMILY  AND  RELIGION      49 

ive  of  social  consequences,  and  a  sex  morality 
devised  fundamentally  for  the  protection  of 
society. 

Such  beliefs  as  these  passed  into  patriarchal 
civilization  and  became  the  basis  for  the  highest 
type  of  religion  known  to  man  before  the  birth 
of  Christ.  Ancestor  worship  welded  into  one 
system  beliefs  in  the  great  divinities  of  nature,  in 
the  existence  of  one's  ancestors  as  propitious 
spirits,  in  a  universal  life  and  in  the  inspiration 
of  love,  hallowed  for  ends  sanctified  by  social  and 
divine  command.  Thus  religion  became  a  really 
helpful  stimulus  to  man,  who  performed  his  daily 
tasks  with  the  belief  that  kindly  beings  environed 
him,  ready  to  help  and  bless  those  who  reverenced 
the  gods  and  did  right  among  men.  For  a  man 
believed  that  if  he  did  his  part  the  gods  would 
give  seedtime  and  harvest,  increase  of  flocks  and 
herds,  children  to  care  for  his  old  age  and  a  long 
life  full  of  tangible  blessings.  Such  a  definite  re- 
ligion, so  exact  in  its  demands  and  recompenses, 
was  especially  helpful  to  family  organization, 
since  it  was  rooted  in  the  very  life  and  hearth  of 
the  kinship.  Back  of  the  head  of  the  family  was 
a  long  line  of  ancestry  whom  he  sustained  by 
offerings  and  worship,  and  who  sustained  him 
and  his  family  in  the  vicissitudes  of  life.  He  be- 
lieved that  he  himself  at  death  would  join  them 
to  watch  over  his  descendants  in  turn,  and  there- 


50  THE  FAMILY 

fore  it  became  his  obligation  and  privilege  to 
marry  in  due  form,  to  become  the  father  of  sons 
and  daughters,  and  to  instruct  his  heir  in  the 
religious  traditions  of  the  family  in  order  that  at 
his  death  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  ancestral 
worship  might  be  continued  for  another  gener- 
ation. Obviously  there  was  a  certain  social  ad- 
vantage in  a  religious  system  that  made  it  the 
interest  of  every  responsible  man  to  marry  in 
legal  marriage  and  to  become  the  parent  of  many 
sons  and  daughters.  It  was  an  ancient  system  of 
eugenics  and  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the  system 
of  "race  suicide"  prevalent  among  the  socially 
higher  classes  of  advanced  civilization. 

These  religious  teachings  also  had  a  steadying 
influence  on  the  family  as  a  whole.  The  notion 
of  kinship  was  considerably  broadened.  To  the 
metronymic  kinship  was  added  the  patronymic, 
and  systems  of  adoption  had  developed,  thus 
countenancing  a  fictitious  as  well  as  a  blood  kin- 
ship. Men's  memories  grew  stronger  and  retained 
more  of  the  past;  and  by  tradition  each  family 
saw  itself  related  to  its  neighbors  and  forming  a 
link  in  the  chain  of  a  long  line  of  ancestry,  which 
extended  backwards  into  hoary  antiquity  and 
forwards  by  faith  until  a  man  saw  his  seed  as  the 
dust  of  the  earth  for  multitude.^  Under  such 
conditions  the  individual  loomed  small  in  com- 
*  Gen.  xni,  i6. 


THE   FAMILY  AND   RELIGION      51 

parison  with  his  family  or  clan  or  tribe,  and 
yet  he  had  his  place  as  an  essential  part  in  the 
system.  Within  this  family  organization  each 
child  was  born  under  authority,  each  as  he  at- 
tained maturity  entered  manhood  with  a  feeling 
of  responsibility,  and  unconsciously  imbibed 
throughout  his  entire  life  feelings  of  reverence  for 
the  past  and  reliance  on  the  good  will  of  his  kin- 
dred, his  ancestors,  and  the  gods.  Such  a  system 
had  a  steadying  influence  on  the  youth,  and  de- 
veloped, as  in  early  Rome,  a  high  type  of  manly 
endurance  and  courage.  Every  man  lived  sur- 
rounded by  the  stalwart  spirits  of  his  ancestors, 
who  rejoiced  in  his  success  and  welcomed  him 
at  death  to  their  companionship.  As  a  religious 
and  domestic  system  it  has  proved  a  success  to 
many  races  past  and  present  and  has  contributed 
to  the  modern  family  a  large  share  of  its  best 
qualities. 

The  time  came,  however,  when  faith  grew  weak 
in  the  divinities  of  nature  and  in  the  efficacy  of 
ancestral  worship,  as  static  civilizations  disin- 
tegrated through  wars  and  commerce  and  dreams 
of  world-empire  came  to  the  front  through  Mac- 
edon  and  Rome.  With  world-empires  came 
thoughts  of  world-religions,  and  among  these 
Christianity  gained  a  foothold  in  the  countries 
bordering  on  the  Mediterranean.  As  it  gained 
ground  it  sought  to  apply  its  teachings  to  the 


52  THE   FAMILY 

morals  and  institutions  of  its  time  and  in  this 
way  exercised  a  deep  influence  over  the  family. 
IJt  is  hard  to  estimate  with  any  exactness  or 
fairness  the  influence  of  Christianity  on  the 
family.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  churchmen  to 
assume  that  whatever  good  there  is  in  the  mod- 
ern family  came  from  the  teachings  of  Christ- 
ianity, though  it  might,  on  the  other  hand,  be 
stoutly  maintained  that  the  church's  attitude 
toward  marriage  and  celibacy  and  its  attempts 
to  regulate  marriage  and  divorce  have  distinctly 
handicapped  social  progress.  Social  progress  is 
not  the  work  of  religion  only,  since  it  involves 
the  cooperative  activity  of  all  social  institutions 
working  harmoniously  for  common  ends.  From 
the  sociological  standpoint  the  mere  teaching  or 
preaching  of  great  principles  makes  little  or  no 
impression  on  most  persons,  unless  they  are  liv- 
ing under  conditions  favorable  to  such  princi- 
ples. Adaptation  to  environment  is  a  funda- 
mental for  survival  and  this  applies  to  ideals  as 
well  as  to  organisms.  When,  therefore,  the  ideal- 
ism of  Christianity  came  into  Western  civiliza- 
tion it  attracted  many  men's  minds  by  its  purity 
and  won  their  formal  consent  and  adherence, 
but  the  conditions  of  social  life  were  radically 
opposed  to  a  religion  of  so  high  a  grade.  Here 
and  there  the  influence  of  the  new  religion  was 
powerful  enough  to  revolutionize  men's  lives  and 


THE   FAMILY  AND   RELIGION      53 

to  purify  the  environment  about  them,  but  no 
such  revolutionary  change  affected  the  whole  of 
the  Roman  Empire  so  that  perforce  Christian 
practices  became  adapted  to  the  environment 
and  thereby  became  merely  a  modified  paganism. 
Christianity  originating  in  Judea  should  natur- 
ally have  included  within  it  some  elements  from 
the  Jewish  family,  but  this  influence  is  barely 
discernible.  In  fact,  the  Jews  had  been  conquered 
so  often  and  Judea  was  so  closely  in  contact  with 
its  Oriental  neighbors  that  its  family  life  was  not 
unlike  that  of  these  nations.  The  land  was  poor 
and  lacking  in  natural  resources,  its  religion  was 
formal  and  its  best  aspects  were  known  only  to 
the  learned.  The  family  was  patriarchal  in  type 
and  monogamous  in  form;  but  divorce,  a  male's 
privilege,  was  common;  harlotry  was  widespread 
and  women  in  general  estimation  were  considered 
to  be  inferior  to  men.  Conditions  on  the  whole 
were  neither  better  nor  worse  than  in  countries 
near  by,  but  there  was  little  in  family  life  worthy 
of  being  set  up  as  a  model  for  a  higher  civiliza- 
tion. Moreover,  Christianity  did  not  long  remain 
under  Jewish  influences.  Through  the  labors  of\ 
Paul  and  of  Greek  converts  Christianity  came 
in  contact  with  a  world-civilization  and  was  pro- 
foundly influenced  by  it.  Its  teachings  soon 
brought  it  in  conflict  with  the  Roman  state,  and 
for  centuries  it  had  to  struggle  for  life  against 


54  THE   FAMILY 

persecution.  The  result  of  this  contest  finally 
brought  about  an  alliance  between  these  two 
institutions,  and  soon  the  church  and  its  leaders 
began  to  formulate  a  policy  in  respect  to  the 
family. 

The  basis  of  any  such  policy  naturally  was 
sought  from  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  the 
Apostles.  In  these  teachings  are  broad  world- 
views  such  as  that  all  in  God's  sight  are  equal 
whether  male  or  female,  that  marriage  should  be 
monogamous,  that  the  standards  of  chastity  are 
binding  on  men  as  well  as  on  women,  and  that 
marriage  should  be  a  union  of  two  equals  united 
in  a  lifelong  tie  through  belief  in  a  common  re- 
ligion. On  the  other  hand,  the  possibility  of 
divorce  under  the  conditions  of  life  is  admitted, 
and  in  Pauline  teaching  woman's  status  in  home 
and  church  is  plainly  inferior  to  man's.  Then, 
too,  there  is  praise  of  celibacy,  a  sort  of  hint  that 
marriage  is  a  substitute  for  fornication,  and  an 
implication  that  sexual  passion  is  an  evil  in  the 
world.  This  lower  tone  came  in  part  through  the 
belief  in  the  speedy  end  of  the  world  and  hence  the 
lack  of  a  necessity  for  race  continuance;  more- 
over, licentious  conditions  about  them  were  so 
vicious  that  the  reaction  against  vice  tended  to 
become  ascetism,  which  In  those  days  emphasized 
the  Eastern  teaching  that  all  bodily  desires 
should  be  resisted  as  sinful.   From  these  contra- 


THE   FAMILY  AND   RELIGION      55 

dictory  sets  of  teachings  it  proved  hard  to  for- 
mulate a  poUcy,  and  in  consequence  wide  differ- 
ences of  opinion  arose  among  the  leaders  in  the 
church.  Slowly,  however,  from  conflicting  theor- 
ies there  was  formulated  a  body  of  teachings 
about  the  family :  monogamy  was  sanctioned  and 
made  the  Christian  type;  marriage  was  declared 
to  be  a  sacrament  and  a  holy  bond;  marriage 
should  be  for  life  and  no  divorce  granted  except 
from  bed  and  board ;  celibacy  was  strongly  recom- 
mended and  finally  required  from  the  priesthood, 
brotherhoods,  and  sisterhoods  as  an  essential 
condition  for  a  highly  sanctified  life;  and  finally 
a  single  sex  standard  was  indorsed. 

These  ideals,  admirable  though  they  were  and 
are,  were  impossible  of  enforcement.  Through- 
out Christendom  concubinage  flourished  along- 
side of  a  family  in  form  monogamous;  the  single 
standard  of  chastity  became  virtually  a  dead 
letter;  there  was  nothing  about  the  ordinary 
marriage  that  would  suggest  to  the  onlooker 
that  marriage  was  either  holy  or  sacramental 
in  nature ;  celibacy  was  too  often  a  cloak  for  sex- 
ualism  of  every  sort ;  and  the  lifelong  duration  of 
marriage  depended  very  much  on  the  wish  of 
the  man  and  the  am.ount  of  his  wealth  and  influ- 
ence. For  no  teaching  of  the  church  developed 
in  the  Middle  Ages  more  casuistry  and  chicanery 
than  ecclesiastical  hair-splittings  about  divorce. 


56  THE  FAMILY 

Yet  no  blame  really  can  be  attached  to  the 
church  for  the  vicious  conditions  of  medieval 
civilization.  The  trouble  was  that  its  ideals  were 
too  far  above  a  pxjpulation  emerging  from  Roman 
degeneracy  and  Germanic  barbarism.  It  was 
good  to  have  the  ideals  on  record  for  future  use, 
especially  as  they  inspired  an  elite  to  a  higher 
and  purer  life,  even  though  they  were,  for  a  large 
part  of  the  population,  "pearls  cast  before  swine." 
The  real  charge  against  the  church  should  be  that 
it  suppressed  knowledge  and  intelligence  that  if 
allowed  to  come  to  fruition  would  have  made 
those  ideals  much  more  real  to  men.  The  human 
intellect  is  the  agency  for  social  progress,  and  the 
suppression  of  it  is  high  treason  against  society 
and  the  only  real  heresy  and  atheism  among 
men. 

From  the  practical  standpoint  more  important 
than  the  church's  attitude  toward  sex  idealism 
was  its  actual  working  policy  toward  the  con- 
crete family  life  of  society.  In  ancestor  worship 
there  is  a  natural  religious  grouping  of  each 
family  around  its  ancestral  shrine.  Every  family 
in  a  sense  is  a  local  church,  with  a  religion  pecul- 
iar to  itself,  yet  in  close  sympathy  with  kindred 
groups  adjacent.  But  when  ancestor  worship 
became  a  mere  form  or  died  out  altogether,  what 
was  there  to  take  its  place?  Evidently  there  were 
several  possibilities;  a  thoughtful  man  like  Maf 


THE   FAMILY  AND   RELIGION      57 

cus  Aurelius  might  think  out  a  philosophy  and 
be  well  satisfied  with  his  substitute.  But  the 
average  man  and  his  wife  and  children  have  no 
time  to  think  out  philosophies  nor  much  appre- 
ciation of  those  already  thought  out.  Such  per- 
sons, therefore,  may  become  indifferent  to  relig- 
ion altogether,  or  they  may  slight  family  wor- 
ship and  devote  themselves  to  the  temples  and 
the  worship  of  the  national  gods,  or  they  may 
become  adherents  of  some  new  religion  capable  of 
being  used  in  the  family  circle.  Christianity  in 
its  beginnings  showed  its  adaptability  to  human 
conditions  by  reconciling  several  of  these  possi- 
bilities. It  lent  itself  readily  for  philosophizing 
purposes,  and  throughout  the  centuries  has 
attracted  much  of  the  best  intellect  of  every 
generation  to  its  world-problems.  It  also  sup- 
planted the  great  gods  of  the  heathen  world  and 
monopolized  all  the  national  temples  with  the 
worship  of  the  one  God,  and  at  the  same  time 
took  possession  of  the  home  by  making  it  possi- 
ble for  a  Christian  family  to  maintain  a  worship 
among  its  own  members  for  their  spiritual  edi- 
fication. 

These  last  two  forms,  however,  are  hard  to 
reconcile.  If  a  family  devotes  itself  to  temple 
worship,  it  minimizes  domestic  worship,  and  by 
contrast  a  vigorous  family  worship  makes  ex- 
ternal worship  seem  to  be  of  less  importance. 


58  THE   FAMILY 

Now,  of  these  two  possibilities  the  church  has 
steadily  emphasized  the  temple  idea  as  against 
the  family.  Influenced  by  the  glamour  of  a  world- 
empire  it  patterned  itself  after  the  Roman  Em- 
pire and  sought  to  center  the  religious  life  of  the 
people  in  the  church  as  an  organization.  Relig- 
ion was  to  become  identified  with  rites,  cere- 
monies, a  consecrated  building,  and  a  priesthood 
authorized  to  act  not  only  for  the  church  uni- 
versal, but  also  for  the  hierarchy  established  on 
earth.  This  policy,  slowly  worked  out  in  detail 
century  after  century,  gradually  wrought  a  revo- 
lution in  worship,  since  it  transferred  the  em- 
phasis from  family  worship  to  communal  worship 
in  which  an  entire  parish  (or  clan  of  former  times) 
grouped  itself  about  a  common  altar  with  priestly 
fathers  as  leaders  in  the  religious  services.  If  to 
this  theory  of  a  centralized  worship  be  added  the 
body  of  teaching  or  dogma  already  mentioned  in 
respect  to  marriage  and  the  family,  the  accept- 
ance in  theory  and  practice  of  both  of  these  by 
the  membership  would  complete  the  process  of 
the  growth  of  ecclesiastical  authority  over  the 
family.  So  radical  a  change,  however,  was  the 
work  of  many  centuries,  and  even  by  the  end  of 
the  fourteenth  century  the  process  was  not  fully 
completed.  Then  came  the  Reformation  and 
broke  down  to  a  large  extent  the  toil  and  labor 
of  a  thousand  years  by  substituting  individual- 


THE   FAMILY  AND   RELIGION      59 

ism  in  religion  in  place  of  the  social  groups  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

Again,  in  the  life  of  an  individual  four  events 
mark  the  crises  in  his  natural  career;  his  birth, 
puberty,  marriage,  and  death.  Through  its 
teachings  and  authority  in  respect  to  baptism, 
confirmation,  and  extreme  unction  the  church 
soon  acquired  control  over  the  individual  in  three 
of  these  crises.  The  fourth,  marriage,  was  a 
matter  of  much  more  difficulty.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  marriage  at  the  beginnings  of 
Christianity  was  throughout  Western  civiliza-'^ 
tion  a  private  contract,  regulated  by  family  cus- 
tom, and  not  controlled  to  any  appreciable  ex- 
tent by  either  state  or  church.  The  task  of  bring- 
ing so  important  an  institution  as  marriage  under 
the  control  of  the  church  was  no  easy  one,  but  the 
church  slowly  gained  ground  and  by  the  time  of 
the  Council  of  Trent  ( 1 545-1 563  a.d.)  it  was 
virtually  in  possession. 

The  steps  taken  by  the  church  during  these 
earlier  centuries  may  briefly  be  summarized  as 
follows:  The  church  slowly  assumed  canonical 
jurisdiction  over  legal  questions  in  respect  to 
matrimony,  at  first  only  when  such  cases  in- 
volved questions  of  religious  teaching,  but  later 
it  secured  from  the  state  the  right  to  adjudicate 
all  sorts  of  cases  in  which  conjugal  and  parental 
rights  were  involved.    Again,  marriage  was  de- 


60  THE   FAMILY 

dared  to  be  a  sacrament,*  a  holy  state  meeting 
with  divine  approval;  being  a  sacrament,  it 
should  be  indissoluble,  and  hence  there  should 
be  no  divorce.  The  final  step  was  for  the  church 
to  dictate  the  ceremonial  and  to  give  its  sanction 
to  the  marriage  contract.  This  process  began 
naturally  in  the  early  centuries  of  Christianity, 
since  Christians  in  marrying  were  desirous  of 
having  from  any  elder  or  priest  present  a  blessing 
or  benediction  on  the  marriage.  By  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century  it  had  become  usual  for  the  bridal 
couple  after  marriage  to  attend  a  bridal  mass  at 
the  church  and  there  to  receive  the  benediction. 
During  the  next  two  hundred  years  a  special 
marriage  ritual  developed  under  the  charge  of 
the  priest,  so  that  a  religious  form  was  placed 
about  the  marriage  contract,  which,  however, 
still  derived  its  sanction  from  the  will  of  the  con- 
tracting parties  and  their  parents.  Meanwhile 
the  banns  or  formal  announcement  of  the  inten- 
tion of  marrying,  and  a  registration  of  the  mar- 
riage itself  on  the  records  of  the  church,  became 
more  and  more  customary.  The  final  step  came 
by  insisting  that  no  marriage  was  valid  in  the 
eyes  of  the  church  unless  performed  by  a  priest 
after  the  ritual  of  the  church,  which  alone  should 
give  sanction  to  marriage.  In  other  words,  the 
priest,  after  hearing  the  consent  of  the  contract- 
*  Howard,  vol.  i,  p.  332. 


THE  FAMILY  AND  RELIGION      6i 

ing  parties  and  their  kin,  joined  them  in  marriage, 
pronounced  them  man  and  wife,  and  by  this 
announcement  the  marriage  became  valid. 

It  must  not  be  assumed,  however,  that  from 
this  time  forth  all  marriages  were  performed  in 
the  church.  The  mass  of  the  poorer  part  of  the 
population  continued  to  marry  as  before  by 
private  contract,  shunning  the  expense  of  the 
ecclesiastical  marriage,  and  such  marriages, 
though  not  canonically  valid,  were  yet  legal  by 
custom.  Meanwhile,  the  Renaissance  had  come, 
the  Reformation  with  its  own  theory  of  marriage 
and  divorce  was  impending,  democracy  was  in 
the  air,  and  the  rise  of  the  modern  state  brought 
to  the  front  a  rival  candidate  for  power  over 
familial  institutions. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE    FAMILY    INFLUENCED    BY    THE    REFOR- 
MATION   AND    THE    STATE 

Religion  to  many  seems  so  important  that 
they  speak  of  the  Reformation  of  Luther's  time 
as  though  it  were  that  movement  which  brought 
about  all  modern  progress.  Yet  it  is  well  under- 
stood that  from  the  fifteenth  to  the  eighteenth 
century  the  entire  social  life  of  Western  civiliza- 
tion was  in  process  of  transformation,  so  that  the 
Reformation  was  simply  the  religious  aspect  of 
the  Renaissance.  By  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century  a  European  civilization  had  devel- 
oped which  was  neither  Roman  nor  Teutonic. 
The  long  struggle  between  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire and  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  had  become 
a  memory.  National  states,  not  world-empires, 
occupied  the  thoughts  of  men.  For  a  thousand 
years  Christianity  had  been  in  the  saddle,  and 
yet  the  moral  conditions  of  Christendom  were  not 
unlike  the  degenerate  days  of  the  Roman  Re- 
public. Religious  interests  had  become  merged 
into  ecclesiasticism,  which  settled  like  an  incubus 
on  the  "modernism"  of  that  time.    For  the  re- 


FAMILY  AND  STATE  63 

vival  of  classical  learning  had  come,  the  art  of 
printing  had  been  devised,  spreading  among  men 
the  knowledge  of  once  buried  treasures  of  thought, 
and  science  had  begun  to  erect  foundations  for 
the  work  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  geo- 
graphical horizon  of  Europe  broadened  so  as  to 
include  the  Far  East,  the  African  regions  toward 
the  South,  and  the  New  World  of  the  West. 
Commerce  leaped  to  the  front,  precious  metals 
began  to  pour  into  the  depleted  treasuries  of 
Europe,  and  inventive  ingenuity  turned  itself 
towards  the  development  of  manufactures.  Sec- 
ular statesmen  supplanted  ecclesiastical  leaders 
in  government,  indicating  that  political  and 
economic  policies  demanded  a  different  type  of 
mind.  Theories  of  education  came  into  discus- 
sion, and  Utopias  were  devised  showing  that  the 
dreamers  of  the  time  were  seeing  visions  of  a  so- 
cial reorganization.  It  seemed  like  a  new  era  to 
many,  for,  as  Campanella^  put  it,  "Oh,  if  you 
knew  what  our  astrologers  say  of  the  coming  age, 
and  of  our  age,  that  has  in  it  more  history  within 
a  hundred  years  than  all  the  world  had  in  four 
thousand  years  before !  Of  the  wonderful  inven- 
tion of  printing  and  guns,  and  the  use  of  the 
magnet,  and  how  it  all  comes  of  Mercury,  Mars, 
the  Moon,  and  the  Scorpion!"    All  these  and 

^  The  City  oj  the  Sun.   Morley's  Ideal  Commonwealths, 
p.  263. 


64  THE  FAMILY 

many  other  similar  movements  were  seething 
during  the  three  centuries  of  this  transition  from 
the  old  to  the  new,  and  it  is  not  strange,  there- 
fore, that  marked  changes  took  place  in  the  in- 
stitution of  the  family,  involving  readjustments 
chiefly  in  respect  to  religion  and  the  state. 

For  a  long  time  there  had  been  a  growing  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  church's  theory  of  sexual- 
ity. The  theory  seemed  plainly  to  imply  that 
the  feeling  of  sexual  passion  was  evil  in  itself, 
thus  failing  to  distinguish  between  a  right  pas- 
sion designed  for  racial  continuance,  and  the 
occasional  perversion  of  it.  It  signified  little  that 
marriage  was  declared  sacramental,  if  at  the 
same  time  celibacy  was  exalted  as  a  condition 
for  high  spirituality.  The  implication  seemed  to 
be  the  Pauline  teaching  that  marriage  was  a 
lesser  evil  so  as  to  avoid  the  greater  evil  of  for- 
nication. Nor,  in  fact,  had  the  demand  for  celi- 
bacy worked  well  in  practice,  as  the  conditions 
of  the  times  clearly  showed.  Conscientious  and 
high-minded  men  and  women,  under  the  spur 
of  idealism  or  mysticism,  might  seem  to  justify 
that  ascetic  demand,  but  the  average  person 
devoted  to  a  holy  life  found  great  difficulty  in 
complying  with  the  requirement  and  wasted  a 
large  part  of  his  working  energy  In  fighting  what 
after  all  is  a  natural  feeling,  sinful  only  in  excess 
and  when  exerted  to  the  detriment  of  individual 


FAMILY  AND  STATE  65 

or  social  life.  Then,  too,  the  many  failures  to 
maintain  vows  of  celibacy  not  simply  ruined 
lives  of  possible  usefulness,  but  reacted  injuri- 
ously on  religion  itself  and  proved  also  to  be 
dangerous  centers  of  social  contagion.  One  of 
the  early  teachings  of  the  religious  reformation, 
therefore,  was  a  denial  of  the  efficacy  of  celibacy 
as  an  aid  to  holiness,  and  an  insistence  on  the 
essential  rightness  of  an  unperverted  sexuality. 
As  a  result  of  this  teaching,  the  requirement  for 
celibacy  on  the  part  of  the  Protestant  clergy 
slowly  died  out,  and,  through  their  disuse  of  the 
confessional,  clerical  control  over  matters  involv- 
ing sex  morals  disappeared  and  questions  of  that 
sort  reverted  to  the  domain  of  the  individual  and 
the  social  conscience. 

Moreover,  society  had  never  taken  kindly  to 
the  notion  that  marriage  is  essentially  a  religious 
institution.  Throughout  human  history  mar- 
riage had  been  regulated  by  the  individuals  and 
families  concerned,  aided  by  the  consensus  of 
public  opinion,  in  which  of  course  religion  had 
its  part.  But  the  doctrine  of  the  sacramental 
nature  of  marriage,  with  its  implication  of  eccle- 
siastical regulation,  and  its  corollary  of  an  indis- 
soluble union,  as  well  as  the  publicity  involved 
in  the  banns  and  the  marriage  ceremony,  seemed 
to  many  like  a  usurpation  on  the  part  of  the 
church.    It  was  held  that  while  marriage  rightly 


66  THE  FAMILY 

should  be  esteemed  a  holy  relationship  and  be 
subject  to  some  publicity  and  regulation  for  the 
sake  of  social  well-being,  yet  that  this  control 
should  originate  from  social  opinion  and  from 
the  state,  rather  than  from  a  celibate  priesthood. 
For  such  reasons  the  reformers  rejected  the  sac- 
ramental nature  of  marriage  and  admitted  the 
possibility  of  divorce,  but  preferred  to  transfer 
authority  and  control  over  these  matters  from 
the  church  to  the  state,  though  emphasizing  the 
advisability  of  a  religious  ceremony  in  connec- 
tion with  marriage  as  a  relationship  approved 
by  religion.  Radical  reformers,  however,  went 
farther  than  this  and  preferred  to  have  even 
the  ceremony  civil  in  character,  and  performed 
before  a  magistrate,  as  under  the  Protectorate 
of  Cromwell  and  in  some  of  the  early  New  Eng- 
land colonies.  The  Friends  or  Quakers,  on  the 
other  hand,  returned  to  the  old  free  contract 
marriage  of  Germanic-Saxon  times,  making  this 
a  matter  of  conscience,  and  arguing  that  neither 
church  nor  state  should  exercise  control  over  an 
institution  essentially  private  in  nature.  It  is 
obvious  that  when  these  several  teachings  of 
religious  reformers,  modified  more  or  less  at  dif- 
ferent times  and  under  varying  conditions,  had 
become  current  among  Protestant  nations,  a  dis- 
tinct change  had  come  about  in  the  relations  of 
church  and  family.    The  change  is  essentially 


FAMILY  AND  STATE  67 

similar  to  that  connoted  by  the  term,  "separa- 
tion of  church  and  state."  There  was  a  separa- 
tion of  church  and  family,  since  the  church  no 
longer  had  the  legal  right  to  dictate  to  the  family 
in  marriage  and  divorce,  nor  to  regulate  the 
rights  of  kinship,  nor  to  define  the  prohibited 
degrees  within  which  marriage  should  not  take 
place,  nor,  in  short,  to  interfere  legally  in  any 
matter  whatsoever  with  the  family  in  any  of  its 
aspects.  In  modern  times  churches,  of  course, 
have  their  teachings  in  respect  to  these  matters, 
and  may  instruct  their  members  in  their  duty 
before  God  in  questions  of  marriage,  divorce, 
and  sex  morals,  but  these  teachings  are  binding 
on  the  conscience  and  involve  no  legal  obligation 
whatsoever.  Nor,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  has  this 
substitution  of  moral  suasion  for  legal  compulsion 
worked  badly  in  practice.  Family  standards  and 
morals  in  Catholic  and  Protestant  countries 
when  compared  are  not  unfavorable  to  the  latter, 
and  it  would  be  hard  to  justify  a  claim  for  ec- 
clesiastical supremacy  over  the  family  on  the 
ground  that  any  other  possibility  spells  degrada- 
tion in  domestic  morals.  The  medieval  experi- 
ment of  subjugating  family  to  church  is  settled 
adversely,  and  society  is  now  experimenting  by 
substituting  the  state  as  the  controlling  agent 
over  the  family. 

This  change  from  ecclesiastical  to  civil  con- 


68  THE  FAMILY 

trol  is  fundamentally  important,  so  that  a  brief 
statement  of  the  growth  of  the  state's  jurisdic- 
tion may  prove  of  interest.  The  family  in  its 
early  history  protected  the  lives  and  property  of 
its  own  kindred  by  force  of  arms  and  punished 
at  its  discretion  its  wayward  members.  Slowly, 
however,  this  power  of  protection  and  the  main- 
tenance of  peace  was  transferred  to  the  state, 
though  its  exercise  of  power  was  carefully  cir- 
cumscribed by  custom.  If  only  the  family  or 
groups  of  families  would  furnish  men  for  war,  and 
pay  needed  taxes  for  the  support  of  government, 
the  state  was  well  satisfied  to  protect  life  and 
property  through  its  war  power  and  to  refrain 
from  interference  in  aught  else.  But  the  history 
of  the  state  is  the  history  of  a  steady  increase  in 
power  and  function,  all  derived  by  implication 
from  its  right  to  protect  life  and  property.  It 
became  interested  in  the  age  of  maturity  for 
young  men,  when  they  might  be  enrolled  for  war 
purposes;  in  kinship,  so  as  to  trace  the  descent  of 
property  rights;  in  marriage,  so  as  to  know  what 
mutual  rights  and  obligations  existed  between 
the  adult  males  and  females  subject  to  it ;  and  in 
children,  as  heirs  of  their  kin  and  as  a  guaranty 
of  national  existence  through  another  generation. 
Regulations  in  regard  to  such  matters  were  com- 
mon enough  in  ancient  times,  especially  when 
property  rights  were  involved.    Rome  before  rt 


FAMILY  AND  STATE  69 

became  Christianized  had  begun  the  process  of 
regulating  kinship,  declaring  what  marriages 
should  be  considered  legal,  and  even  sought 
under  the  Empire  to  stipulate  conditions  under 
which  a  divorce  should  take  place  ^  and  to  legis- 
late so  as  to  encourage  larger  families .^  After 
the  downfall  of  the  Empire  the  church  began  to 
assume  jurisdiction  over  the  family  and  by  the 
fifteenth  century  had  become  able  to  dictate 
domestic  standards,  as  already  described.  After 
the  Reformation  the  state  in  Protestant  coun- 
tries began  to  assert  control  over  the  family:  in 
place  of  the  banns  came  a  license  and  registration 
publicly  announced  or  placed  on  record  for  gen- 
eral inspection;  in  place  of  a  religious  sanction 
the  state  authorized  clergymen  to  perform  the 
ceremony  or  else  substituted  for  those  its  magis- 
trates. Prohibited  degrees,  kinship,  wardship 
over  minors,  and  divorce  all  came  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  state,  which  even  undertook  to  set 
up  standards  in  sex  morals,  as,  for  example,  in 
the  prohibition  or  regulation  of  prostitution.  In 
assuming  these  powers  it  often  took  over  bodily 
the  standards  already  worked  out  by  the  church, 
but  it  never  hesitated  to  change  these  whenever 
it  seemed  necessary.  Its  jurisdiction  in  divorce 
and  in  remarriage  after  divorce  is  an  excellent 

*  In  the  presence  of  witnesses,  for  example. 
'  By  tax  exemption  and  bonuses. 


70  THE  FAMILY 

illustration  of  the  drift  away  from  the  ecclesias- 
tical teaching  of  the  indissolubility  of  the^  mar- 
riage tie.  There  is  consequently  often  a  real  con- 
flict of  standards,  since  the  state  may  authorize 
a  marriage  or  announce  a  divorce,  contrary  to 
the  teachings  of  the  church.  The  church,  how- 
ever, can  in  no  way  interfere  with  the  decision 
made  by  the  state  nor  inflict  any  but  spiritual 
penalties  on  its  members  who  ignore  its  teach- 
ings. At  first  thought  it  may  be  said  that  the 
institution  of  the  family  has  merely  changed  one 
master  for  another,  but  this  is  not  quite  true. 
This  governmental  control  has  gone  farthest  in 
the  more  democratic  nations,  so  that  the  com- 
mand of  the  state  is  based  on  public  opinion, 
which  may  enlarge  or  decrease  at  will  govern- 
mental control  over  the  family.  The  state,  in 
other  words,  has  become  or  is  becoming  the 
mouthpiece  of  its  citizens,  and  in  so  far  as  the 
family  is  concerned  has  become  a  sort  of  enlarged 
family  council  acting  as  a  unit  for  the  formu- 
lation of  a  code  in  respect  to  matters  affecting 
marriage  and  the  family. 

This  change  from  ecclesiastical  to  civil  domi- 
nance over  the  family,  though  civil  and  political 
in  its  nature,  is  at  the  same  time  a  social  and  a 
democratic  movement.  It  is  a  movement  away 
from  "  paternalism  "  toward  a  return  to  a  familial 
and  social  regulation  of  marriage  and  relation- 


FAMILY  AND  STATE  71 

ship.  It  is  a  drift  toward  a  democratic  theory  of 
family  as  part  of  the  larger  democratic  trend  of 
the  times.  For  democracy  is  not  simply  political ; 
it  is  really  social,  since  it  is  a  demand  that  every 
adult  be  allowed  to  determine  his  own  life,  as 
far  as  personal  determination  is  possible,  and 
that  he  have  a  voice  in  whatever  regulation  is 
placed  on  his  actions.  Democracy,  therefore, 
may  be  religious,  as  in  freedom  of  worship;  or 
economic,  as  in  freedom  in  economic  contracts; 
or  familial,  as  in  freedom  to  contract  marriage  by 
mutual  consent;  or  ethical,  as  in  freedom  to 
decide  on  one's  line  of  action  in  the  light  of  his 
conscience;  or  educational,  as  in  freedom  to 
acquire  an  education.  All  of  these  rights  are  and 
ought  to  be  subject  to  reasonable  regulation,  but 
they  unitedly  are  best  guaranteed  to  the  individ- 
ual when  he  has  a  ballot  in  his  hand  and  thereby 
can  aid  in  determining  the  amount  and  the  kind 
of  regulation  to  which  he  is  to  be  subjected.  In 
one  sense,  therefore,  the  teachings  of  the  religious 
leaders  in  the  Reformation  were  partial  steps  to- 
ward a  larger  end  than  any  of  them  had  in  mind, 
and  hence  their  teachings  were  temporary  pol- 
icies, good  for  their  generation  but  by  no  means 
binding  for  all  time.  Under  the  conditions  of 
those  days  a  social  revolution  was  bound  to  come, 
and  it  took  at  first  a  religious  form  because,  if  a 
rebellion  were  raised  at  all,  it  had  to  be  against 


72  THE  FAMILY 

the  hierarchical  ecclesiastical  organization  which 
ruled  Western  civilization  with  despotic  sway. 
But  an  analysis  of  this  revolt  shows  that  it  was 
not  merely  a  struggle  for  religious  liberty,  since 
most  men  were  somewhat  indifferent  about  that, 
but  it  was  rather  a  protest  against  an  ecclesias- 
tical system  of  economic  exploitation,  against  an 
asserted  supremacy  over  political  and  intellec- 
tual life,  and  against  an  autocratic  dictation  in 
respect  to  marriage  and  the  family.  The  revolt 
was  successful  and  ushered  in  the  age  of  modern 
democracy. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   AMERICAN   FAMILY   INFLUENCED   BY 
DEMOCRACY 

The  sweep  of  modern  democracy  has  deeply 
affected  the  family  as  well  as  the  relations  of 
church  and  state,  though  its  influence  on  the 
several  nations  of  Western  civilization  has  been 
widely  different,  because  of  the  slow  progress  of 
democracy  in  some  parts  of  Europe,  owing  to 
numerous  variations  in  the  factors  underlying 
their  development.  It  is  obvious  that  there  can 
be  no  one  type  of  family  in  all  Western  nations, 
since  their  economic  systems  are  far  from  uniform 
and  ecclesiastical  dominance  is  still  an  important 
factor  in  many  states.  In  Russia,  the  mir  or  vil- 
lage organization  of  peasants  and  the  powerful 
organization  of  the  Russian  state  church  de- 
termine a  family  of  complex  type  uniting  pa- 
triarchal and  Christian  forms.  In  England  by 
contrast  urban  conditions  determine  the  type, 
though  this  is  somewhat  modified  by  the  influ- 
ence of  the  national  church.  In  other  nations 
there  may  be  found  a  peasant  population  semi- 


74  THE  FAMILY 

feudal  in  character,  often  illiterate,  always  poor, 
and  with  a  type  of  family  suited  to  such  condi- 
tions ;  or  by  contrast  there  may  be  a  free  farming 
population  on  one  side  and  an  urban  population 
on  the  other  with  its  extremes  of  a  privileged 
leisure  class  and  a  compacted  mass  of  proletariat 
population  living  or  barely  existing  in  closely 
packed  tenements  and  slums. 

In  the  south  of  Europe  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  is  a  powerful  influence  aflfecting  the  fam- 
ily ;  in  the  north  are  the  several  state  churches 
of  the  Protestant  nations,  and  France  in  the  west 
has  already  taken  the  final  step  in  separating 
church  from  state,  thereby  securing  control  over 
the  family  to  the  latter.  Throughout  all  Europe, 
nevertheless,  the  trend  of  the  times  is  steadily  in 
the  direction  of  democracy,  even  though  mon- 
archal forms  be  retained  through  inertia,  and 
such  a  movement  implies  of  necessity,  under 
present  conditions,  that  the  family  will  become 
free  from  ecclesiastical  authority  as  state  and 
church  become  separate,  for  the  interests  of  the 
state  in  the  family  are  more  fundamental  than 
those  of  the  church,  and  it  can  allow  no  interfer- 
ence on  the  part  of  a  rival  institution. 

But  these  transitional  stages  in  the  relation- 
ship of  state,  church,  and  family  of  Europe  have 
already  quite  fully  matured  in  the  United  States. 
It  is  the  pioneer  among  the  nations  in  democracy 


THE  AMERICAN   FAMILY  75 

and  in  the  separation  of  church  and  state.  In 
this  nation  on  a  large  scale  are  working  out,  in 
politics,  religion,  and  familial  life,  problems  that 
the  other  nations  must  sooner  or  later  face.  It  is 
a  leader  among  the  nations,  in  the  sense  that  it  is 
in  the  van  of  the  struggle  for  human  progress 
and  is  experimenting  in  a  large  way  with  world- 
problems.  For  such  a  social  laboratory  conditions 
in  the  United  States  are  altogether  favorable. 
There  is  a  boundless  national  domain  of  immense 
natural  resources,  situated  in  the  temperate 
zone,  and  freed  from  the  proximity  of  dangerous 
neighbors.  Its  territory  already  supports  a  hun- 
dred million  of  people ;  and  its  population,  though 
fundamentally  Teutonic,  is  mingled  with  the 
blood  of  nearly  all  the  races  of  the  earth.  Here 
are  being  worked  out  on  a  colossal  scale  as  in  no 
other  part  of  the  earth,  under  the  conditions  of 
civil,  religious,  and  intellectual  freedom,  the  pro- 
blems of  a  newer  democracy,  hampered  by  no 
state  church  or  legal  class  distinctions  and  aided 
by  a  free  and  generous  system  of  public  educa- 
tion. Here  flourishes  as  a  guide  to  public  opinion 
the  most  powerful  popular  press  in  the  world, 
under  no  restraints  of  censorship  except  the  libel 
law,  and  voicing  freely  the  extremes  of  social 
opinion  from  anarchism  to  an  ultra-conservatism 
savoring  of  medieval  days.  Its  social  institutions 
are  flexible,  and  readjust  themselves  readily  to 


76  THE   FAMILY 

changing  conditions  brought  about  by  the  min- 
gHng  of  diverse  civilizations  within  its  borders, 
over  which  for  the  last  fifty  years  have  passed 
the  greatest  migratory  movements  of  all  history. 
These  social  experimentations  and  this  process 
of  social  assimilation  of  varying  civilizations  are 
not  of  recent  date,  but  trace  back  to  the  begin- 
nings of  settlement  some  three  hundred  years 
ago.  The  conditions  of  to-day  were  then  in  germ, 
and  they  merely  reproduce  on  a  larger  scale  and 
with  an  accelerated  movement  what  was  existent 
in  the  colonial  period  of  national  history.  For 
that  reason  the  United  States  is  in  modern  social 
experience  older  than  its  contemporaries  of  West- 
ern civilization,  and  will  furnish  them  for  many 
a  future  generation  through  its  experiments 
object  lessons  for  imitation  or  avoidance.  It  is 
possible,  therefore,  to  get  a  much  clearer  idea  of 
the  modern  family,  in  its  later  aspects  at  least, 
from  a  study  of  the  American  family  than  from  a 
study  of  the  varying  types  prevalent  throughout 
Western  civilization  as  a  whole.  Modern  demo- 
cratic movements  have  affected  it  profoundly, 
and  there  is  evolving  in  consequence  a  type  of 
family  which  itself  reacts  on  democracy  and  aids 
in  its  development.  It  is  probable  that  the  Amer- 
ican family  represents,  notwithstanding  its  trans- 
itional crudities,  a  movement  toward  a  higher 
type  of  family  than  any  now  existing  and  will 


THE  AMERICAN   FAMILY  77 

furnish  the  basis  on  which  will  rest  the  better 
civilization  of  coming  centuries. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  much  uniformity  in 
the  early  practices  of  the  American  colonies  and 
their  inhabitants.    In  the  North  were  the  Puri- 
tans and  the  Separatists  or  Pilgrims;  westward 
from  these  were  the  more  radical  religious  ele- 
ments of  the  time;  in  New  York  were  the  Dutch 
colonies  of  New  Netherland,  and  to  the  South 
were  the  Friends  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Catholics 
of  Maryland,  and  the  Episcopalians  and  Presby- 
terians on  the  other  side  of  the  Potomac.  British 
plebeian  and   patrician,    Dutch,   Scandinavian, 
and  the  Huguenots  of  France,  combined  with  a 
touch  of  Indian  and  Negro  blood,  formed  the 
racial  admixture  of  the  future  nation.  The  town- 
centered  life  of  New  England  contrasted  with  the 
expansive  life  of  the  Southern  plantation  and  its 
county.    The  humanistic  thought  of  the  South 
was  in  contrast  to  the  theological  dogmatism  of 
the  North.   The  real  uniformity  in  the  situation 
consisted  in  the  dominating  physical  and  eco- 
nomic environment.    All  had  to  toil  in  the  strug- 
gle for  existence;  forests  had  to  be  leveled,  virgin 
land  plowed  and  cultivated,  Indians  fought  or 
placated,  new  diseases  and  famine  were  at  their 
doors,  and  their  chief  reliance  lay  in  their  own 
unaided  exertions.    The  settlements  were  for  a 
long  time  poor  and  petty,  and  England  paid 


78  THE  FAMILY 

small  attention  to  its  insignificant  offspring. 
Each  center  of  population,  though  nominally 
under  control  by  the  mother  country,  soon  de- 
veloped the  habit  of  doing  quite  what  it  pleased. 
If  local  control  proved  burdensome  to  any  man, 
it  was  always  possible  for  him  to  move  farther 
west  and  live  a  life  of  freedom  on  free  land. 
Therefore,  even  though  the  early  settlers  came 
with  somewhat  definite  beliefs  about  many 
things,  these  became  subject  to  modification  so 
as  to  suit  an  altogether  different  environment 
from  that  in  which  they  had  developed.  Stern 
laws  and  fixed  standards  were  numerous  enough 
at  first,  but  their  inadaptability  to  existing  con- 
ditions prevented  a  too  rigid  enforcement  except 
against  the  stranger,  the  alien,  or  the  poor.  Un- 
der such  conditions  all  kinds  of  theories,  whether 
political,  religious,  or  familial,  tended  to  approxi- 
mate toward  a  common  type,  and  this  tendency 
was  powerfully  hastened  by  the  necessity  of  joint 
action  when  England  began  to  place  regulations 
on  colonies  so  rapidly  increasing  in  wealth  and 
population.  In  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the 
colonists  became  more  and  more  unified  in  spirit 
and  thereby  tended  to  assimilate  more  rapidly 
their  social  institutions  through  comparison  and 
imitation.  In  line  with  this  general  develop- 
ment, the  early  colonists,  who  had  brought  with 
them  many  conflicting  familial  standards  inher- 


THE  AMERICAN   FAMILY  79 

ited  from  varying  social  environments,  slowly 
fused  their  varying  theories  of  domestic  organi- 
zation into  a  common  American  type.  This  may 
be  seen  by  noting  the  original  variations  in 
familial  standards  and  the  trend  toward  common 
standards. 

The  settlers  of  New  England,  strongly  Protes- 
tant in  religion  and  politics,  stoutly  maintained 
the  more  radical  views  of  the  Reformers.  Mar- 
riage was  considered  a  holy  state,  though  not 
sacramental  in  nature.  The  father  in  his  house- 
hold was  at  once  its  master  and  its  spiritual 
leader  after  the  fashion  of  patriarchal  times. 
Education  for  the  family  was  a  sort  of  necessity 
in  order  that  its  members  might  read  the  Bible 
as  Protestantism  demands.  With  a  whole  con- 
tinent before  them  inviting  settlement,  there  was 
a  premium  on  population,  so  that  early  mar- 
riages and  large  families  were  the  rule.  There 
were  few  bachelors,  still  fewer  spinsters,  and  the 
widowed  of  either  sex  seldom  spent  many  months 
in  mourning.  In  some  colonies  special  taxation 
and  severe  regulation  discouraged  bachelors  from 
"the  selfish  luxury  of  solitary  living."^  Civil 
marriage  was  favored  with  due  publication, 
registration,  and  a  ceremony  usually  performed 
at  the  home  of  the  bride  by  some  civil  magistrate. 
A  formal  betrothal  preceded  the  nuptials,  and 
^  Howard,  vol.  11,  p.  153. 


8o  THE  FAMILY 

this  was  so  emphasized  as  to  result  often  in  the 
illegal  omission  of  the  marriage  ceremony  as  a 
useless  form. 

This  preference  for  a  civil  as  against  a  religious 
ceremony  traces  to  the  radical  teachings  of  the 
English  and  Dutch  Reformers.  The  Jewish  type 
of  family  contained  in  the  Old  Testament  was 
also  a  distinct  influence,  emphasizing,  as  it  does, 
a  marriage  in  the  presence  of  interested  witnesses 
without  the  necessity  of  the  services  of  a  rabbi 
either  at  the  betrothal  or  the  nuptials.  These 
three  centers  of  influence  indicated  a  return  to 
a  form  of  marriage  largely  controlled  by  the 
families  concerned,  under  the  regulation  of  the 
civil  authority,  with  ministers  present,  if  at  all, 
as  honored  guests  to  offer  prayer  or  to  bestow  a 
benediction  on  the  newly  wedded  couple.  Under 
the  exigencies  of  a  frontier  life,  legal  forms  and 
an  officiating  magistrate  were  often  dispensed 
with,  and  the  contractual  common-law  marriage 
was  deemed  sufficient.  This  form  of  marriage 
was  legal,  though  its  use  might  involve  censure  or 
fine.  The  church  had  a  certain  amount  of  control 
over  families  in  respect  to  religious  duties,  illus- 
trated by  the  requirement  of  compulsory  attend- 
ance on  services,  though  in  Rhode  Island  the 
doctrine  of  the  separation  of  civil  and  religious 
things  nullified  any  such  tendency  in  that  colony. 
But  this  control  grew  less  rather  than  more,  for 


THE  AMERICAN   FAMILY  8i 

as  population  increased,  religion  became  personal 
and  familial  in  its  standards,  and  control  by  the 
church  was  both  less  needed  and  less  favored. 

In  the  Southern  colonies  by  contrast,  where 
Episcopacy  was  strongly  entrenched,  the  church 
retained  its  hold  on  the  family  through  its  close 
connection  with  the  civil  authorities.  The  law, 
for  instance,  required  that  the  marriage  cere- 
mony be  performed  through  the  clergy  of  that 
church,  after  compliance  with  the  usual  civil 
requirements  of  license  and  registration.  But  in 
these  colonies  dissenting  religious  bodies  rapidly 
grew  in  numbers  and  importance,  and  they 
strongly  objected  to  a  ceremony  not  performed 
through  their  own  ministers,  so  that  marriages 
through  the  clergy  of  the  dissenting  bodies  and 
the  familiar  common-law  marriage  were  custom- 
ary outside  of  the  influential  centers  of  popula- 
tion where  Episcopacy  was  strong.  In  the  Middle 
colonies  existed  two  variants  from  the  types  prev- 
alent in  the  other  colonies,  namely,  the  contract 
marriage  of  the  Friends  or  Quakers,  which  is 
still  in  use  among  them,  and  the  Dutch  civil 
marriage  of  New  Amsterdam  (New  York).  This 
latter,  however,  after  conquest  by  the  English, 
included  the  religious  ceremony  and  became  as- 
similated to  the  prevailing  type.  Throughout 
all  the  colonies  by  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
marriage  had  become  predominantly  civil  in  its 


82  THE  FAMILY 

basis,  in  the  sense  that  whatever  regulation  there 
was,  in  respect  to  prohibited  degrees,  licenses, 
publication,  and  registration,  came  from  the 
civil  authorities,  not  from  the  church.  The  kind 
of  ceremony,  however,  had  become  optional  since 
it  might  be  performed  (i)  by  civil  magistrates,  or 
(2)  by  the  ministers  of  any  one  of  the  recognized 
religious  bodies  so  rapidly  developing  throughout 
the  country,  or  (3)  by  the  parties  themselves 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Friends.  Moreover,  the 
English  common-law  marriage  under  the  condi- 
tions of  frontier  life  was  everywhere  in  vogue  of 
necessity,  since  marriages  must  take  place,  and 
if  ministers  or  magistrates  are  few  and  far  be- 
tween, a  contract  marriage  in  the  presence  of 
mutual  friends  is  natural  and  proper.  Among 
the  poor,  also,  this  form  was  common  so  as  to 
avoid  the  payment  of  fees  to  magistrate  or  min- 
ister; and  since  it  was  legal  there  were  no  compli- 
cations in  respect  to  property  rights,  though  in 
some  colonies  there  might  by  chance  be  assessed 
a  fine  for  failure  to  take  out  license  or  to  make 
returns  for  registration.  Miscegenation  between 
whites  and  negroes  or  Indians  was  regularly  for- 
bidden. Marriages  among  slaves  had  the  usual 
contract  form;  but  the  regulation,  ceremony, 
and  duration  of  the  marriage  depended  largely 
on  the  wish  of  their  masters.  Being  slaves,  they 
were  not  able  to  contract  legal  marriages,  could 


THE  AMERICAN   FAMILY  83 

claim  no  familial  rights  in  the  eyes  of  the  law, 
nor  claim  ownership  in  their  children  as  against 
their  masters.  Yet  in  the  nineteenth  century 
slavery  as  an  institution  disappeared  from  the 
United  States  and  with  it  the  compulsory  ille- 
gality of  its  marriage. 

In  respect  to  divorce,  the  policy  of  New  Eng- 
land differed  widely  from  that  of  the  other  col- 
onies. These  being  largely  under  the  influence  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  tended  to  follow  English 
precedents  and  allowed  no  divorces.  Yet  separa- 
tion by  mutual  consent  was  apparently  not  un- 
common and  seemed  to  be  sanctioned  by  public 
opinion  even  though  not  strictly  in  accordance 
with  law.  In  New  York  under  Dutch  administra- 
tion, divorces  were  granted  by  the  civil  author- 
ities, but  this  ended  also  after  its  capture  by  the 
English.  In  the  eighteenth  century  there  was  a 
slight  tendency  here  and  there  to  secure  divorces 
through  special  legislation,  but  this  movement 
did  not  gain  much  headway  until  after  the  Re- 
volution. In  New  England,  however,  the  more 
radical  principles  of  the  Reformation  prevailed, 
and  hence  the  colonists  were  in  opposition  to  the 
indissolubility  theory  of  the  Roman  Church. 
Power  over  divorce  was  vested  in  the  civil  courts; 
and  in  addition  to  adultery  as  a  cause  of  divorce, 
cruelty  and  desertion  were  accepted  as  valid 
reasons.  Petitions  for  divorce  were  received  from 


84  THE  FAMILY 

either  husband  or  wife,  though  her  petition  was 
less  Hkely  to  be  granted  than  his.  The  Hmited 
divorce  from  bed  and  board  passed  out  of  use; 
and  divorce,  if  granted  at  all,  was  made  absolute. 
Under  unusual  circumstances  the  legislatures 
themselves  did  not  hesitate  to  grant  divorces  by 
special  legislation,  and  for  a  long  time  exercised 
a  jurisdiction  concurrent  with  that  of  the  courts. 
Divorce  through  legislatures  is  now  regularly 
forbidden  by  state  constitutions. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE    FAMILY    INFLUENCED    BY    URBAN    CON- 
DITIONS 

Democracy  as  a  social  standard  may  arise  (i) 
when  economic  conditions,  fundamentally  alike, 
compel  a  sort  of  equality  among  those  subjected 
to  a  common  environment.  (2)  Philosophic 
study  may  result  in  the  teaching  of  democratic 
ideals,  and  these  attract  humanitarian  enthusi- 
asts the  world  over  and  become  the  basis  for 
a  propaganda.  (3)  A  civilization  dependent 
on  commerce  and  manufactures  assists  in  the 
growth  of  democracy,  since  it  creates  a  steady 
demand  for  trained  intelligence  irrespective  of 
birth  or  race  or  sex.  The  heart  of  this  last  type  of 
democracy  is  the  urban  center,  which  throws 
wide  open  the  doors  of  opportunity,  inviting  all  to 
compete  for  wealth  through  achievement.  Natur- 
ally the  world's  population  is  composed  of  both 
strong  and  weak,  so  that,  even  though  there  be 
an  equality  of  opportunity  for  all  who  compete, 
the  end  of  the  contest  shows  the  survival  of  the 
few  and  the  defeat  of  the  many.  In  other  words, 
class  distinctions  are  natural  in  social  struggle, 
so  that  if  society  desires  to  maintain  democratic 


86  THE  FAMILY 

conditions  it  must  (4)  deliberately,  as  a  perman- 
ent policy,  promote  general  intelligence  through 
education  and  must  regulate  the  tendency  toward 
economic  extremes  in  society,  by  guarding  against 
the  concentration  of  wealth  into  the  hands  of  a 
few,  and  the  impoverishment  of  the  defeated 
fraction  of  humanity. 

The  United  States  in  its  colonial  period  experi- 
enced democratic  influences  arising  from  the 
pressure  of  uniform  economic  environment;  in 
the  Revolution  and  in  the  first  third  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  democratic  ideals  were  prominent, 
based  on  the  theory  of  the  "social  contract"; 
during  the  last  hundred  years  there  has  been  a 
steady  growth  in  urban  population  through  in- 
creasing industries ;  and  since  the  opening  of  the 
twentieth  century  great  movements  have  arisen 
aiming  to  free  the  nation  through  social  and  legal 
regulation  from  the  vicious  conditions  induced 
by  the  intense  competition  of  urban  civilization. 
This  urban  development  of  the  United  States 
has  produced  so  many  modifications  in  the  Amer- 
ican family  that  a  statement  of  this  influence 
and  an  explanation  of  counteracting  constructive 
movements  become  necessary. 

In  the  year  1790  only  3.35  per  cent  of  the  pop- 
ulation of  the  States  lived  in  urban  centers  as 
against  46,3  per  cent  in  1910.^  So  radical  a 
*  Census  of  19 10. 


THE  URBAN  FAMILY  87 

change  in  the  conditions  of  life  for  so  large  a  part 
of  the  population  has  had  its  influence  on  the 
family,  since  the  individualized  open-air  life  of 
the  farm  is  in  marked  contrast  to  the  socialized 
indoor  life  of  the  city.  A  city's  population  grows 
not  only  through  natural  increase,  but  through 
migration  from  the  country  and  the  influx  of 
foreign  immigrants,  who  themselves  come  chiefly 
from  rural  communities.  The  reasons  for  this 
exodus  from  country  to  city  have  been  carefully 
studied,  and  the  conclusions  published  in  many 
forms.^  From  the  social  standpoint  there  is  a 
fascination  about  city  life  through  the  possibili- 
ties of  many  forms  of  social  amusements  unknown 
to  the  sparsely  inhabited  country.  Well-stocked 
markets,  facilities  in  shopping,  and  modern  con- 
veniences in  the  home  add  to  the  allurement  of 
the  city,  while  literary,  esthetic,  and  religious 
opportunities  attract  the  more  thoughtful.  As 
economic  causes,  may  be  mentioned  the  expansion 
of  industries  through  the  utilization  of  inven- 
tions, and  machinery  applying  new  forms  of  power 
to  production  and  transportation.  These  demand 
masses  of  population  so  as  to  keep  up  a  supply  of 
skilled  and  unskilled  laborers  and  they  furnish 
relatively  greater  opportunities  for  wages  than 
may  ordinarily  be  obtained  in  rural  occupations. 
This  enormous  economic  expansion  in  produc- 
*  See  for  example,  Weber,  The  Growth  of  Cities. 


88  THE  FAMILY 

tion  and  in  the  demand  for  workers  in  industries 
and  on  the  free  lands  of  the  West  placed  so  great 
a  premium  on  population  that  the  native  stock 
by  natural  increase  could  not  satisfy  the  demand, 
and  immigration  from  foreign  countries  was 
accordingly  encouraged  by  the  nation.  The  pro- 
duction of  population  was,  as  it  were,  "speeded 
up,"  so  that  large  families,  alien  immigration, 
and  an  exodus  from  the  less  fertile  lands  of  the 
country  characterized  the  larger  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  From  the  year  1840  one  race 
after  another  sent  its  surplus  population  to  swell 
the  ranks  of  those  seeking  to  satisfy  the  American 
demand  for  labor;  in  rapid  succession  came  the 
Irish,  German,  English,  Scotch,  Scandinavian, 
and  then  the  French  Canadian,  the  Italian,  the 
Jew  of  East  Europe,  and  the  miscellaneous  pop- 
ulation of  Southeast  Europe  and  Asia  Minor.  The 
flood  from  the  Orient,  also  threatening  to  enter 
into  the  competitive  markets  of  labor,  was  fortun- 
ately stopped  by  Congressional  legislation  and 
now  leaks  in  only  by  driblets,  largely  over  the 
Canadian  and  Mexican  borders.  At  the  present 
time  the  free  national  lands  are  practically  all 
preempted,  but  industries  are  still  expanding 
enormously,  so  that  a  tide  of  immigration  flows 
steadily  into  urban  centers  so  as  to  enter  into 
competition  for  the  positions  constantly  opening 
for  workers. 


THE   URBAN   FAMILY  89 

The  change  in  so  many  cases  from  rural  to 
urban  life  had  its  disadvantages.  Cities  and 
growing  villages,  not  anticipating  such  rapid 
expansions  of  industries  and  population  within 
their  borders,  did  not  foresee  the  dangers  of  con- 
gestion, and  passively  allowed  the  incoming 
throngs  to  mass  into  dwelUngs  as  best  they  could. 
The  existing  housing  capacity  was  entirely  in- 
adequate for  the  demand,  building  laws  were 
woefully  defective,  and  the  powers  of  health 
officers  weak  and  ill  defined.  In  natural  order 
followed  overcrowding,  the  hasty  erection  of 
vicious  tenements,  and  a  rapacious  landlordism 
that  exploited  the  workers  by  supplying  in  slums 
wretched  and  insanitary  shelters  at  exorbitant 
rentals.  Many  immigrants  also  could  secure  only 
a  precarious  livelihood  because  of  their  ignorance 
of  the  language  and  customs  of  Americans,  and 
hence  suffered  the  ills  of  malnutrition  in  addition 
to  overcrowding  in  tenements.  Again  in  many 
cases  the  supply  of  workers  is  in  excess  of  the 
demand  through  financial  crises  or  through  a 
failure  to  distribute  properly  incoming  immi- 
grants to  sections  where  their  labor  would  be  in 
demand.  But  a  glut  in  the  labor  market  results 
in  intense  competition  for  what  work  there  is, 
drives  down  the  wage,  and  lowers  the  standard  of 
living.  As  a  rule  also  the  immigrant  easily  under* 
bids  the  native  worker  in  unskilled  or  partly 


90  THE  FAMILY 

skilled  employment,  so  that  the  latter  too  often 
sinks  into  the  ranks  of  superfluous  or  occasionally 
employed  hands.  '. 

Such  conditions  compel  rapid  modifications  in 
home  and  family.  The  former  stability  and  unity 
of  familial  life  become  weakened.  The  younger 
generation,  trained  in  American  schools  and  in 
the  midst  of  an  urban  environment,  become  more 
versatile  and  even  more  competent  than  their 
parents  in  earning  capacity.  Too  often  in  conse- 
quence they  lose  the  old-time  respect  and  rever- 
ence for  parental  authority,  which  in  fact  often 
changes  to  a  sort  of  dependence  on  the  superior 
practical  capacity  of  the  children.  These  as 
they  mature  drift  away  from  home  and  parents 
under  the  attractions  of  enlarging  economic  op- 
portunities, and  because  the  training  of  the 
home  is  superseded  by  the  drill  of  the  shop  or  the 
mill,  or  by  the  influence  of  school  or  other  agen- 
cies interested  in  social,  religious,  or  intellectual 
instruction.  Women  also  become  wage-earners 
and  gain  importance  in  the  household  thereby. 
The  unmarried,  as  they  attain  economic  inde- 
pendence, become  less  eager  for  marriage;  and 
the  married,  conscious  of  their  capacity  for  self- 
support,  become  less  willing  to  be  subordinated 
to  the  male  in  the  family  or  to  become  mothers 
of  many  children.  Under  economic  stress  the 
home   becomes   merely   a   temporary   meeting- 


THE   URBAN   FAMILY  91 

place  for  board  and  lodging,  the  privilege  of 
which  is  often  shared  with  strangers.  The  at- 
tractiveness of  home  disappears;  it  is  no  longer 
a  center  for  amusement  and  recreation,  since 
these  are  sought  on  the  streets  or  in  theaters  or 
social  organizations.  For  the  same  or  similar 
reasons  conjugal  ties  easily  become  loosened, 
resulting  in  the  problem  of  the  homeless  man  and 
the  deserted  wife. 

The  keenness  of  economic  competition  is  felt 
also  in  middle-class  circles,  whose  standards  of 
living  are  steadily  rising  and  upon  whom  in- 
creasingly larger  demands  are  made  for  mental 
preparation  and  equipment  for  their  special 
occupations.  In  order  to  meet  these  demands 
young  men  must  postpone  marriage,  have  few 
or  no  children  when  married,  and  must  substitute 
for  the  cottage  home  an  apartment  flat  or  the 
hotel  with  their  lack  of  privacy  and  their  pro- 
hibitions against  childien.  Urban  life  also  pro- 
duces modifications  in  the  family  of  the  socially 
higher  classes.  These  often  become  enamored 
with  a  fondness  for  ease  and  luxury  and  desirous 
of  social  prestige.  The  cares  and  responsibilities 
of  children  become  onerous.  Parenthood  ceases 
to  be  either  a  pleasure  or  a  duty  and  is  shunned 
whenever  possible.  The  birth  of  a  child  is  an  un- 
welcome event,  and  the  care  of  it  is  promptly 
transferred  to  hired  servants,  who  often  lack 


92  THE   FAMILY 

both  the  knowledge  and  sympathy  needed  in 
effective  child-training.  Emphasis  on  social 
pleasures,  on  the  one  hand,  and  absorption  in 
business  cares  and  club  life,  on  the  other,  tend 
readily  to  make  the  marriage  tie  largely  a  con- 
ventional one,  with  not  infrequent  unhappy  con- 
sequences. In  all  walks  of  life,  from  the  highest 
to  the  lowest,  may  thus  be  observed  changes  in- 
duced through  urban  environment,  radically  af- 
fecting home  and  kinship  ties. 

As  a  result  of  such  conditions  many  evils  be- 
come common.  Industries  in  their  eagerness  to 
produce  results  often  lose  sight  of  the  human  ele- 
ment and  fail  to  safeguard  the  life,  health,  and 
morality  of  their  employees.  Insanitary  condi- 
tions develop  along  with  a  disregard  for  comfort 
and  decency,  and  a  general  indifference  to  the 
prevalence  of  accidents,  so  often  preventable. 
Congested  housing  produces  sickness  and  dis- 
ease, especially  tuberculosis,  the  curse  of  poverty. 
From  the  lack  of  a  living  wage  and  proper  stand- 
ards of  living  develop  spontaneously  pauperism, 
crime,  sexualism,  and  intemperance,  and  these 
once  established  drag  down  into  the  "submerged 
tenth"  many  of  those  who  heretofore  had  been 
struggling  to  maintain  themselves  in  decency. 
Churches,  dazed  by  conditions  not  provided  for 
in  their  theology  nor  in  their  former  experiences, 
practically  confine  themselves  to  attempts  to 


THE   URBAN   FAMILY  93 

maintain  their  present  standing,  or  else  virtually 
cut  loose  from  the  masses  and  cultivate  rela- 
tionships with  the  classes  who  still  profess  belief 
in  the  teachings  and  methods  of  the  churches. 
Philanthropies,  also,  overwhelmed  by  the  expan- 
sion of  population  and  the  rapid  increase  in  calls 
for  charity,  feverishly  devote  themselves  to  the 
collection  of  money  for  almsgiving,  neglecting  in 
their  haste  the  possibilities  of  eliminating  much 
of  the  demand  by  furthering  constructive  pol- 
icies. Even  the  schools,  swamped  by  the  influx 
of  so  many  of  alien  stock,  devote  themselves 
chiefly  to  the  problem  of  teaching  the  rudiments 
of  education  to  the  children  of  native  and  alien 
alike,  neglecting  thereby  the  necessity  of  advance 
movements  suitable  to  a  progressive  civilization. 
The  government,  finally,  both  state  and  local, 
becomes  so  interested  in  its  economic  expansion 
that  it  ignores  the  rapidly  accumulating  series 
of  social  problems  developing  in  city  and  country, 
and  allows  evils  to  multiply  that  might  with 
comparative  ease  be  nipped  in  the  bud. 

By  contrast  to  these  conditions  so  plainly 
destructive  in  kind  there  are  other  tendencies 
constructive  in  their  influence  rapidly  coming  to 
the  front  throughout  the  United  States.  Society, 
overpowered  apparently  by  the  sudden  onrush  of 
increasing  urban  responsibilities,  is  at  last  slowly 
awakening  to  the  situation  and  arousing  itself 


94  THE  FAMILY 

to  grapple  with  modern  social  problems.  Con- 
structive movements  of  all  sorts  are  becoming  so 
numerous  as  almost  to  defy  enumeration.  Gov- 
ernment is  becoming  interested  in  the  elimination 
of  social  evils  and  in  the  upbuilding  of  the  higher 
aspects  of  rural  and  urban  life.  The  city  as  a 
municipal  corporation  is  revising  its  chartered 
organization  so  as  to  adapt  itself  to  newer  condi- 
tions. It  is  developing  a  civic  plan  inclusive  of 
future  possibilities  of  growth;  it  is  becoming 
esthetic  and  looks  askance  at  its  neglected  back 
yards,  its  slums,  and  its  bedraggled  scenery,  and, 
staggering  at  the  heavy  cost  of  its  social  evils, 
begins  to  experiment  somewhat  in  methods  of 
prevention  so  as  to  develop  thereby  a  safer 
environment  for  its  families.  The  schools  also 
begin  to  find  a  respite  from  their  undue  absorp- 
tion in  their  immediate  problems  and  plan  for  a 
larger  education  better  adapted  to  modern  voca- 
tional and  civic  demands.  In  philanthropies  the 
cry  for  social  justice  is  heard  as  against  the  ap- 
peal for  alms,  and  agitations  innumerable  are 
arising  against  urban  conditions  of  housing,  sick- 
ness, and  disease.  Churches  begin  to  develop  a 
social  conscience  and  to  take  interest  in  the 
earthly  welfare  of  the  people  as  well  as  in  their 
salvation  after  death.  In  the  industries  also  both 
state  and  employer,  realizing  the  value  of  efficient 
labor  as  a  factor  in  production,  begin  to  admit 


THE   URBAN   FAMILY  95 

the  economy  and  wisdom  of  banishing  conditions 
that  produce  sickness,  accident,  and  low  stand- 
ards of  living,  and  to  take  interest  in  cooperating 
with  their  workers  in  building  up  a  decent  and 
healthful  atmosphere  in  home  and  shop.  In  fact, 
throughout  the  entire  social  body  associations 
innumerable  are  rising  up,  each  agitated  about 
some  particular  aspect  of  the  social  problem,  but 
all  unitedly  filled  with  the  belief  that  society 
must  not  rest  satisfied  with  present  conditions. 
Disease  must  be  banished  from  civilization,  sick- 
ness and  accidents  reduced  to  a  minimum,  child 
labor  abolished,  and  the  conditions  of  Hfe  in  city 
or  country  made  such  that  every  person  may  have 
opportunity  to  enjoy  his  life  and  vocation,  un- 
hampered by  the  evils  that  now  so  closely  beset 
both  young  and  old  in  modern  civilization. 


CHAPTER   IX 

THE  MARRIAGE   TIE  AND  DIVORCE 

The  influence  of  democratic  and  urban  tend- 
encies on  the  family  may  be  well  illustrated  by 
noting  the  modern  problem  of  divorce  and  the 
varying  forms  of  marriage  in  use  throughout  the 
United  States.  Marriage  itself  is  based  on  mutual 
consent  in  the  case  of  adults,  supplemented  by 
parental  sanction  if  one  or  both  of  the  parties  are 
minors.  The  civil  law  defines  the  procedure  of 
marriage,  regularly  requiring  license,  registra- 
tion, and  a  ceremony  performed  by  a  magistrate, 
or  by  a  clergyman  authorized  by  law,  or  in  what- 
ever other  way  the  law  may  ordain.  No  priest  or 
clergyman  may  perform  the  marriage  ceremony 
unless  authorized  by  the  state,  so  that  a  person 
officiating  at  a  marriage  is  to  that  extent  a  civil 
officer.  This  uniform  legal  basis,  however,  is  not 
always  in  full  accord  with  existing  theories  in 
respect  to  the  marriage  relationship. 

There  are  in  fact  six  kinds  of  marriage  exist- 
ing side  by  side,  some  of  which  involve  occasional 
friction  with  the  civil  authorities.    These  may 


MARRIAGE  AND   DIVORCE        97 

briefly  be  explained  as  follows:  (i)  The  Roman 
Catholic  theory  is  that  marriage  is  a  sacrament, 
indissoluble  and  valid  only  when  performed  by  a 
priest  after  the  rites  determined  by  the  church. 
(2)  The  Protestant  theory  is  that  marriage  is  a 
holy  relationship,  the  sacredness  of  which  should 
be  emphasized  by  a  religious  ceremony  when 
authorized  by  the  state,  and  that  the  bonds  of 
matrimony,  once  formed,  should  be  loosened 
only  for  reasons  based  on  the  teachings  of  the 
New  Testament.  (3)  The  theory  of  civil  mar- 
riage is  one  authorized  by  the  state,  performed  by 
civil  magistrates,  and  dissolved  for  causes  deter- 
mined by  the  state.  (4)  The  common-law  mar- 
riage is  that  in  which  cohabitation  and  a  common 
life  as  man  and  wife  are  the  essential  steps  of 
marriage,  though  the  state  has  full  control  over 
divorce.  (5)  A  free  contract  marriage  is  one  in 
which  the  state  authorizes  the  contracting  parties, 
as  in  the  case  of  Friends,  to  perform  their  own 
marriage  ceremony  in  the  presence  of  witnesses 
after  compliance  with  legal  requirements,  di- 
vorces being  granted  under  state  authority. 
(6)  There  is  an  extreme  free  contract  theory, 
sometimes  called  "free  love,"  in  which  marriage 
and  divorce  are  entirely  withdrawn  from  the 
authority  of  the  state  and  depend  on  the  wish  of 
the  contracting  parties.  This  is  virtually  the 
fourth  form  of  family  developed  in  late  Roman 


98  THE   FAMILY 

civilization.^  From  the  legal  standpoint  the  first 
and  second  forms  by  themselves  can  exist  only 
in  so  far  as  they  are  made  conformable  to  civil 
requirements,  the  third  is  legal  throughout  the 
United  States,  and  the  fourth  and  fifth  forms  are 
legal  only  so  far  as  authorized  by  statutes  or  by 
common  law.  The  sixth  form  is  not  a  legal  form 
of  marriage  in  modern  times,  but  exists  illegally 
in  the  system  of  "mistresses"  and  is  advocated 
as  a  proper  marriage  by  social  extremists.  In 
actual  practice  nearly  all  marriages  are  performed 
by  priests  or  clergymen  after  legal  authorization, 
marriages  performed  by  civil  magistrates  are  not 
usual,  the  free  contract  marriage  is  rarely  used 
outside  of  the  body  of  Friends,  who  are  weak  in 
numbers,  and  the  common-law  marriage,  while 
still  countenanced  by  several  States,  is  not 
favored,  since  the  States  prefer  to  keep  a  record 
of  each  marriage  and  hence  as  a  rule  demand 
license  and  registration. 

The  problem  of  divorce  has  a  further  signifi- 
cance as  showing  the  influence  of  Christianity 
and  democracy  on  the  family.  Ethnologists  can 
still  point  to  countries  where  metronymic  condi- 
tions of  marriage  and  divorce  continue  to  prevail. 
Patronymic  civilization  exists  throughout  Asia 
and  presents  the  varied  aspects  of  that  well- 
known  type  of  familial  organization.  Japan,  for 
*  See  pages  38-39. 


MARRIAGE  AND   DIVORCE         99 

example,  just  emerging  from  the  loose  divorce 
system  of  that  stage,  showed  from  its  statistics 
that,  during  the  ten  years  from  1887  to  1896,  one 
divorce  took  place  for  every  three  marriages, 
though  since  the  adoption  of  a  somewhat 
stricter  code  (1898)  this  ratio  has  become  one 
to  six.  Nearly  all  divorces  take  place  by  mu- 
tual consent  and  are  merely  recorded  by  the 
courts. 

In  eastern  and  southern  Europe  the  strict 
religious  teachings  of  the  Christian  Church 
largely  determine  the  legal  basis  of  matrimony 
and  minimize  divorce.  Ecclesiastical  restrictions 
of  a  less  rigid  type  prevail  in  northern  Europe, 
so  that  the  number  of  divorces  relatively  in- 
creases, the  ratio  being  fairly  high  in  some  States, 
though  there  are  wide  variations.  In  France 
marriage  and  divorce  are  from  the  legal  stand- 
point purely  civil, ^  rehgious  teachings  having 
merely  a  social  influence  of  varying  importance. 
In  the  French  colony  of  Algeria,  a  Mohammedan 
country,  under  the  laxness  of  a  patriarchal  sys- 
tem the  ratio  of  marriages  to  divorces  was  three 
to  one  in  the  years  1897  to  1905.  In  the  United 
States  of  America  the  question  of  divorce  is  a 
national  problem  under  full  discussion,  for  not 
only  is  its  divorce  rate  the  largest  in  Western 

*  The  civil  marriage,  however,  for  social  reasons  is  often 
followed  by  a  religious  ceremony. 


lOO  THE  FAMILY 

civilization,  but  it  annually  grants  more  divorces 
than  all  the  European  states  combined.^ 

In  the  voluminous  discussion  arising  from  this 
fact  many  explanations  have  been  advanced 
seeking  to  show  why  a  Christian  nation  of  high 
moral  standards  should  have  so  heavy  a  divorce 
rate.  In  general  the  cause  is  rightly  ascribed  to 
the  influence  of  modern  democracy,  but  this  it- 
self is  in  need  of  explanation.  If  one  may  judge 
from  the  statistics  of  Algeria  and  Japan,  a  divorce 
system,  largely  dependent  on  male  whim  and 
unchecked  by  religious  prohibitions,  furnishes  a 
divorce  for  every  three  marriages.  If,  however, 
church  and  state  combine  to  forbid  divorce  at  all, 
then  obviously  there  are  no  legal  divorces,  and 
yet  there  may  be  much  prostitution,  illegitimacy, 
and  adultery.  As  marriage  becomes  civil,  and 
church  and  state  separate,  divorce  may  slowly 
become  permissible  so  that  the  ratio  of  divorces 
to  marriages  may  steadily  rise.   When  the  regu- 

*  For  a  detailed  study  of  the  divorce  rates  of  foreign 
countries,  see  Governmental  Report  on  Marriage  and  Divorce, 
part  I,  1909;  but  as  illustrations  of  varying  ratios  may  be 
noted  the  following:  — 

Year  Country  Ratio  of  divorce  to  marriage 


1906 

Ireland 

I  to  3777 

1906 

England  and  Wales 

I  to  403 

1906 

German  Empire 

I  to  41 

1906 

Denmark 

I  to  33 

I90S 

France 

I  to  30 

1906 

Switzerland 

r  to  20 

1906 

United  States 

I  to  12 

1 90s 

Japan 

I  to  S 

MARRIAGE  AND   DIVORCE       loi 

lation  of  marriage  becomes  entirely  civil  and 
state  and  church  are  clearly  separate,  as  in  the 
United  States,  the  religious  standards  tend  to  be 
supplanted  by  newer  standards  based  on  demo- 
cratic theories  of  liberty  and  equality,  while  to 
many  the  "pursuit  of  happiness "  seems  more  im- 
portant than  adherence  to  a  religious  command. 
This  change  takes  place  the  more  rapidly  because 
the  churches  in  the  United  States  do  not  form  a 
united  body ;  they  teach  widely  varying  doctrines 
in  respect  to  marriage  and  divorce,  and  hence 
are  not  able  to  present  a  consensus  of  religious 
opinion  on  the  divorce  problem.  Furthermore, 
under  ecclesiasticism  women  rarely  seek  divorce, 
but  under  democracy,  on  the  other  hand,  as  they 
win  equahty  with  men  in  the  economic,  civic, 
and  intellectual  spheres,  they  demand  equality 
also  in  familial  relationships,  and,  should  the  neces- 
sity arise,  they  do  not  hesitate  to  seek  a  separa- 
tion from  obnoxious  husbands,  as  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  two  thirds  (66.6  per  cent)  of  all  divorces 
in  the  United  States  are  petitioned  for  by  wives. 
In  the  early  years  of  national  history,  demo- 
cratic development  in  domestic  matters  found  a 
natural  outlet  in  modifications  of  the  mechanism 
whereby  divorces  are  granted.  State  legislatures, 
from  the  founding  of  the  Republic,  have  aimed  in 
general  to  satisfy  popular  demands,  and  among 
these  demands  was  an  insistence  on  a  broadening 


LIBRAPIY 

LIBR  AR Y  »TAT«  TVACHSW  COLLBCt 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNll'"*'"^  M»«»ai«a.  cAuromntA 
SAMA  BARBARA  /j,-;^jx. 


102  THE   FAMILY 

of  the  possibilities  of  divorce  for  causes  other  than 
adultery  and  desertion,  and  an  assertion  that 
women  equally  with  men  should  be  given  the 
right  to  sue  for  divorce.  As  at  the  same  time 
jurisdiction  over  divorces  slowly  passed  from  the 
legislatures  to  the  courts,  a  petition  might  be 
filed  in  almost  any  locality,  and  a  decree  rendered 
at  comparatively  slight  cost  to  the  parties,  within 
a  short  time,  and  with  a  minimum  of  publicity. 
During  the  first  hundred  years  of  national  his- 
tory, therefore,  the  laws  in  respect  to  divorce  in 
general  became  lax,  the  ease  of  judicial  procedure 
in  divorce  cases  became  proverbial,  and  the  num- 
ber of  applications  steadily  mounted  upward, 
almost  without  remark,  since  no  statistics  of  real 
value  were  available.  Social  opinion  easily  read- 
justed itself  to  the  new  situation  and  a  divorce 
ceased  to  have  much  effect  on  one's  social  stand- 
ing. After  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  the  growing 
frequency  of  divorce  began  to  attract  the  atten- 
tion of  churchmen,  a  few  statistical  studies  were 
made,  and  in  1878  the  Rev.  Dr.  Dike  began  to 
write  and  lecture  on  the  question.  Three  years 
later  a  Divorce  Reform  League  was  formed  with 
Dr.  Dike  as  secretary,  since  which  time  he  has 
devoted  his  life  to  the  study  of  divorce  and 
of  other  problems  connected  with  the  family. 
Through  the  League  an  agitation  was  developed 
aiming  to  have  the  National  Government  make 


MARRIAGE  AND   DIVORCE       103 

a  careful  study  of  American  statistics  in  respect 
to  divorce  and  marriage,  so  far  as  these  could  be 
obtained.  Congress  in  1887  authorized  investi- 
gations, and  these  were  published  in  1889.  The 
report  at  once  attracted  wide  attention  and  ran 
through  three  editions.  On  the  basis  of  the  infor- 
mation thus  furnished,  movements  at  once  devel- 
oped throughout  the  several  States  for  improve- 
ment and  uniformity  in  legislation  respecting 
divorce,  and  much  progress  in  this  direction  has 
been  attained.  In  1905  Congress  authorized  a 
more  comprehensive  study  of  marriage  and  di- 
vorce, and  this  investigation  was  printed  in  two 
volumes  in  1908-09.  These  reports  furnish  a 
fairly  satisfactory  basis  for  a  clear  statement  of 
the  entire  question,  and  the  conclusions  are  start- 
ling enough.  The  total  number  of  marriages  in 
the  United  States  during  the  years  1887  to  1906 
was  12,832,044.  During  the  same  period  there 
were  945,625  divorces,  or  in  round  numbers  one 
divorce  for  every  twelve  marriages.  In  the  opin- 
ion of  departmental  experts  this  ratio  may  be 
subject  to  modification,  since  statistical  records 
in  certain  sections  of  the  United  States  are  defec- 
tive, so  that  it  is  possible  that  the  ratio  may  be 
anywhere  between  one  to  twelve  and  one  to  six- 
teen. The  divorce  rate  in  1906  was  over  three 
times  that  of  1867,  the  increase  in  percentage 
being  practically  steady  year  by  year  except 


I04  THE  FAMILY 

in  times  of  economic  disturbance.  The  ease  of 
divorce  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  of  all  petitions 
presented  to  the  courts  about  seventy-five  per 
cent  were  granted,  fifteen  per  cent  only  being 
contested.  It  is  significant  that  in  only  about 
forty  per  cent  of  the  cases  were  children  involved, 
and  in  nearly  one  half  of  these  again  there  was 
but  one  child  to  the  marriage.  The  causes  as- 
signed are  in  many  cases  conventional,  but  as 
illustrative  of  the  situation  the  figures  for  the 
five  years  1902-06  are  as  follows:  — 


Desertion 

Cruelty 

Adultery 

Intemperance 

Neglect  to  provide 

Miscellaneous 


38-5 
235 
153 
3.9 
3-8 
15. 


While  intemperance  was  a  direct  cause  in  only 
3.9  per  cent  it  was  a  factor  in  19.5  per  cent  of  the 
cases.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that  the  causes 
assigned  are  in  all  cases  the  real  causes.  Petitions 
naming  relatively  less  obnoxious  causes,  such  as 
desertion,  will  seldom  be  contested,  so  that  such 
a  cause  by  connivance  may  be  agreed  on  in  order 
to  avoid  the  publicity  of  a  trial  in  a  contested 
case.  Divorce  under  such  circumstances  prac- 
tically amounts  to  divorce  by  mutual  consent 
formally  recorded  before  a  court. 


MARRIAGE  AND   DIVORCE       105 

In  the  early  years  of  agitation  for  the  reform 
of  divorce  laws  there  was  a  demand  for  authority 
to  pass  a  national  divorce  law,  on  the  assumption 
that  many  persons  moved  to  "easy"  States  so  as 
to  secure  divorces  more  readily,  but  it  now  seems 
clear  that  there  is  little  migration  from  State  to 
State  for  the  purpose  of  securing  divorce.  Of  the 
divorces  granted,  76.3  per  cent  are  granted  in  the 
states  where  the  marriages  took  place,  and  the 
remaining  per  cent,  with  a  possible  slight  excep- 
tion, represents  the  natural  migration  of  popula- 
tion from  one  State  to  another. 

Continuous  agitation  and  publicity  in  respect 
to  the  divorce  problem  have  naturally  resulted  in 
suggestions  of  many  remedies.  In  legislation  this 
has  taken  the  form  of  attempts  to  have  the  States 
adopt  in  substance  a  uniform  divorce  law,  so  as 
to  eliminate  some  of  the  recognized  evils  existent 
in  a  lax  legal  system.  Such  and  similar  sugges- 
tions emphasize  a  proper  length  of  residence  in  a 
State  before  a  petition  may  be  entered  in  the 
court;  a  careful  judicial  examination  of  each  case 
preceded  by  attempts  at  reconciliation  after 
European  models;  a  suitable  interval  between 
the  petition  and  the  trial  and  between  the  trial 
and  the  time  within  which  the  divorced  parties, 
one  or  both,  may  not  be  allowed  to  marry;  and 
finally,  a  strict  regulation  of  those  lawyers  who 
specialize  on  divorce  cases  and  by  advertising 


106        '  THE   FAMILY 

multiply  the  number  of  applicants  for  divorce. 
Moreover,  it  is  recognized  that  many  divorces 
would  be  unnecessary  if  only  hasty  marriages 
were  rendered  impossible  by  insistence  on  a  for- 
mal license,  taken  out  in  the  locality  where  one 
of  the  parties  has  domicile,  several  days  in  ad- 
vance of  the  ceremony ;  that  legal  age,  or,  in  the 
case  of  minors,  parental  consent  be  demanded; 
and  that  the  ceremony,  whether  before  a  magis- 
trate or  a  clergyman,  be  made  formal  and  solemn 
so  as  to  make  clear  the  importance  of  the  step 
about  to  be  undertaken. 

From  another  standpoint,  through  the  socio- 
logical trend  of  the  day  an  increasing  emphasis  is 
being  laid  on  the  social  factors  that  play  so  large 
a  part  in  the  divorce  problem,  preeminent  among 
which,  as  a  baneful  influence  in  its  effects  on  the 
sanctity  of  the  marriage  tie,  is  the  prevalence  of 
prostitution  and  its  contagious  diseases,^  A  con- 
sensus of  opinion  is  slowly  arising  that  a  real 
cause  underlying  the  excessive  demand  for  di- 
vorce is  the  existence  of  sexual  diseases  trans- 
ferred from  husband  to  wife.  Inevitably  this 
results  in  mental  anguish  and  aversion,  in  hateful 
physical  consequences  to  wife  and  child,  or  in  the 
evils  of  abortion  and  sterility.  If  sexual  vice  is 
a  chief  factor  in  the  rising  ratio  of  divorce,  then 
divorce  to  that  extent  may  be  due  to  a  moral, 

^  See  Prince  A.  Morrow,  Social  Diseases  and  Marriage. 


MARRIAGE  AND   DIVORCE       107 

not  an  immoral  demand.  Admitting  as  one  must 
that  divorces  too  often  are  sought  for  on  ex- 
tremely frivolous  grounds  and  without  a  proper 
appreciation  of  the  sanctity  of  the  marriage  rela- 
tion, admitting  also  that  many  marriages  are 
entered  into  without  proper  consideration  or  from 
low  and  unworthy  motives,  the  fact  remains  that 
the  increasing  demand  for  divorce  is  in  general 
justified  by  public  opinion.  We  are  developing 
as  never  before  ideals  of  the  sanctity  of  one's 
personality  and  of  a  social  obligation  to  poster- 
ity. A  marriage  connection  that  depresses  and 
defiles  the  inner  self  is  unholy,  and  when  it  results 
in  the  birth  of  abnormal  children  mentally  and 
physically  defective  is  in  the  highest  sense  of  the 
word  immoral.  When  an  intelligent  wife  with 
moral  sensibilities  realizes  that  sexual  vice  on  her 
husband's  part  preceded  or  followed  the  mar- 
riage, no  dictum  of  church  or  clergy  can  make  a 
tie  seem  sacred  which  fills  her  with  horror  and 
loathing.  A  marriage,  in  other  words,  is  sancti- 
fied only  when  the  parties  to  the  contract  are 
themselves  fit  bodily  and  spiritually  for  a  holy 
ceremony  and  remain  so  throughout  life.  Nor 
should  churches  place  themselves  in  opposition 
to  divorce  so  long  as  they  unite  in  what  should  be 
a  holy  marriage  the  pure  and  innocent  with  the 
impure  and  defiled.  When  churches  refuse  to 
marry  those  unfit  for  conjugal  and  parental  rela- 


io8  THE   FAMILY 

tions,  then  they  may  with  a  good  conscience  in- 
sist on  a  permanent  marriage  tie.  The  state  also 
will  as  public  opinion  develops  assume  the  same 
attitude,  and  make  sound  physical  and  moral 
health  a  prerequisite  for  a  legal  marriage. 


CHAPTER  X 

DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  MARRIAGE  TIE 

The  harmonious  unity  of  the  sexes  through 
marriage  is  so  fundamental  to  any  theory  of  con- 
jugal stability  and  so  necessary  to  an  advanced 
civilization,  that  it  may  be  advantageous  to  trace 
in  review  the  varying  aspects  of  sex  relationship, 
so  as  to  show  the  trend  toward  a  higher  form  of 
cooperation  in  the  marriage  tie. 

In  primitive  civilization  human  beings,  de- 
scended from  a  common  ancestry  and  subjected 
to  a  similar  environment,  would  naturally  de- 
velop a  sort  of  democracy.  In  physique,  in  men- 
tality, and  in  capacity  to  struggle  for  existence 
there  would  be  an  approximation  toward  equal- 
ity, even  though  slight  variations  might  be  nu- 
merous. The  sexes,  too,  were  not  unequal,  since 
the  physical  superiority  of  the  man  was  offset 
by  the  probable  mental  superiority  of  the  woman. 
Fortunately  for  civilization,  woman  in  the  earlier 
metronymic  stage  was  from  the  social  stand- 
point rather  more  important,  since  the  family 
was  molded  into  a  social  group  through  her  in- 
fluence. She  developed  language  and  the  home, 


no  THE  FAMILY 

multiplied  the  comforts  of  life  through  her  in- 
genuity, and  by  her  knowledge  of  edible  vegeta- 
tion and  medicinal  herbs  she  supplied  her  fam- 
ily with  food,  served  as  their  physician  in  times 
of  illness,  and  was  even  their  interpreter  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  supernatural.  Within  the  group, 
children  were  under  her  guidance,  and  as  they 
approached  adolescence  acquired  their  larger 
education  through  imitation  of  their  elders.  By 
a  system  of  judicious  neglect  they  had  to  become 
economically  capable  or  starve,  so  that  those  who 
reached  maturity  were  virtually  self-sufficient 
through  natural  selection.  Each  might  aspire  to 
whatever  position  seemed  best  suited  to  his 
capacities;  there  were  neither  slaves  nor  social 
inferiors;  occupation,  marriage,  and  honor  were 
open  to  all,  as  opportunities  to  be  utilized  or 
neglected. 

Yet  if  through  changing  conditions,  such  as 
migration  or  the  rise  of  private  property,  there 
came  racial  and  social  conflicts,  conquest  and 
defeat  would  be  followed  by  relationships  of 
superiority  and  inferiority.  The  lower  would 
still  be  equal  among  themselves,  and  the  higher 
equal  one  to  the  other,  but  the  earlier  unified 
democratic  group  would  become  aristocratic,  as 
the  population  separated  into  classes  and  castes. 
Superiority  might  be  based  on  physical,  eco- 
nomic, or  intellectual  capacity,  but  once  attained 


MARRIAGE  AND   DEMOCRACY    iii 

and  asserted  it  tended  to  become  permanent, 
since  the  dominant  class  would  control  social 
regulation  and  would  maintain  conditions  favor- 
able to  its  own  supremacy. 

A  similar  change  in  status  may  be  clearly  seen 
in  the  social  relationships  of  the  sexes.  There  is 
naturally  a  permanent  distinction  in  the  phys- 
iology and  psychology  of  male  and  female,  and 
this  fundamental  differentiation  from  the  begin- 
ning made  the  social  function  of  women  different 
from  that  of  men.  There  was  a  democracy  among 
women,  and  a  democracy  among  men,  but  the 
two  sexes  were  not  necessarily  on  exact  terms  of 
equality  in  their  relations  with  each  other.  Dif- 
ferences, however,  became  accentuated,  when  in 
patriarchal  civilization  men  became  the  providers 
of  foods,  monopolized  higher  occupations,  and 
won  supremacy  in  religious  and  intellectual  life. 
Woman's  work  in  consequence  ceased  to  be  first 
in  social  utility,  and  her  function  tended  more 
and  more  to  become  that  of  a  bearer  of  children 
and  a  sharer  with  the  slave  in  the  performance 
of  the  drudgery  of  the  group.  Those  women 
found  favor  in  men's  eyes  who  were  attractive 
through  their  beauty  or  accomplishments,  or 
through  their  docility  and  patient  endurance 
under  privation  and  toil.  Less  tractable  females 
were  eliminated  through  harsh  treatment,  or 
"tamed"  after  the  method  elaborated  by  Shake- 


112  THE  FAMILY 

speareinhis  Taming  of  the  Shrew.  Naturally  women 
did  not  submit  readily  to  this  position  of  inferi- 
ority, so  that  patriarchal  literature  is  full  of  male 
complaints  about  the  other  sex.  Men  asserted 
that  women  were  idle  and  deceitful,  forgetting 
that  these  are  natural  virtues  to  slaves  who  have 
no  incentives  to  nobility  of  character  or  to  in- 
dustry. They  objected  because  women,  growing 
weary  of  the  monotony  of  daily  routine,  longed 
for  the  excitement  of  the  theater,  the  procession, 
or  the  city  streets.  They  also  lamented  the 
fact  that  women  sometimes  lacked  chastity,  in 
imitation  of  men;  or  drank  too  much  wine,  as 
their  male  kin  did ;  or,  when  nervous  from  strain 
and  overwork,  scolded  their  indolent  husbands, 
as  Xanthippe  scolded  Socrates  for  "gadding" 
about  the  streets  of  Athens  with  a  crowd  of  idle 
youth. 

Yet  through  it  all  there  was  slowly  arising  as 
a  sort  of  ideal  a  newer  conception  of  the  home 
and  the  relationship  of  its  members  one  to  an- 
other. The  settled  life  of  patriarchal  civilization 
developed  here  and  there  gleams  of  an  idealized 
household,  so  that  in  the  Old  Testament,  in 
Homer,  in  the  traditions  of  early  Rome,  and  in 
the  legends  of  the  East  may  be  found  splendid 
illustrations  of  conjugal,  parental,  and  filial  de- 
votion. But  neither  the  "perfect  woman"  of 
Proverbs  nor  the  ideal  household  of  Xenophon 


MARRIAGE  AND   DEMOCRACY     113 

altogether  satisfy  modern  demands.  Nor  does 
the  Utopian  family  life  depicted  in  the  sixteenth 
century  by  Thomas  More  and  Francis  Bacon  do 
more  than  excite  a  smile  to-day.^  With  the  mod- 
ern religious  emphasis  on  the  inherent  sacred- 
ness  of  the  marriage  relation  there  developed  a 
newer  attitude  toward  woman.  Men  no  longer 
debated,  as  in  medieval  casuistry,  whether  or 
not  she  had  a  soul,  but  went  back  to  the  earlier 
Christian  concept  of  equality  and  companion- 
ship. The  word  "home"  came  to  have  its  mod- 
ern meaning,  so  well  voiced  by  Payne's  Home, 
Sweet  Home,  and  the  rigors  of  marital  and  parental 
discipline  slowly  softened,  opening  the  way  for 
the  kindlier  movements  of  the  day,  out  of  which 
should  come  in  process  of  time  a  family  of  higher 
type,  reproducing  in  the  smaller  circle  what  Peri- 
cles in  his  Funeral  Oration  and  Cicero  in  his  De 
Repuhlica  strove  to  inculcate  as  patriotism  to  the 
state. 

This  change  in  the  status  of  woman  is  really 
part  of  that  larger  social  movement  which  broke 
up  in  Europe  the  patriarchal  basis  of  civilization 
and  readjusted  it  on  modern  lines.  As  civiliza- 
tion changed  in  kind  from  agriculture  to  com- 
merce and  manufactures,  women's  work  became 
increasingly  important  in  these  newer  vocations, 
so  that  a  capable  woman  of  skilled  intelligence 
1  See  Motley's  Ideal  Commonwealths. 


114  THE   FAMILY 

was  too  valuable  an  asset  to  be  treated  as  a  mere 
slave  or  servant.  The  newer  civilization  de- 
manded economic  capacity  and  mental  skill,  so 
that  a  more  generous  education  became  a  ne- 
cessity even  for  the  masses  of  the  population. 
Women  shared  in  this  as  the  natural  guides  and 
teachers  of  children  and  thereby  acquired  greater 
efficiency.  With  a  broader  outlook  on  life  they 
began  to  assert  their  right  to  the  highest  educa- 
tion of  the  times  and  to  demand  entrance  into 
the  universities  and  the  professions.  In  securing 
these  rights  they  secured  at  the  same  time  free- 
dorp  in  thought  and  conscience  and  the  right  to 
determine  their  own  moral  standards  and  relig- 
ious beliefs,  even  though  these  by  chance  should 
fail  to  accord  with  those  held  by  males.  But  such 
changes  as  these  deeply  affect  both  the  social 
system  and  the  marriage  relation,  since  through 
their  industrial  capacity  and  larger  mental  train- 
ing women  readily  may  find  vocations  open  to 
them  outside  of  marriage.  Marriage  accordingly 
ceases  to  be  so  important  in  their  eyes,  since  they 
need  no  longer  marry  for  a  home,  and  hence  they 
enter  on  or  refrain  from  matrimony  as  may  at 
the  time  seem  best. 

This  larger  freedom  of  choice  is  far-reaching  in 
its  effects.  Modern  biology  shows  that,  while 
each  sex  contributes  a  share  in  the  generation  of 
offspring,  the  female  is  the  more  important  of 


MARRIAGE  AND   DEMOCRACY     115 

the  sexes  in  reproduction,  since  she  has  the  dan- 
gerous function  of  child-bearing  and  the  respon- 
sibility of  nursing  and  rearing  the  child.  The 
decision,  therefore,  as  to  whether  or  not  a  wife 
should  bear  children  should  be  hers,  not  the  hus- 
band's, and  a  recognition  of  this  right  becomes 
a  factor  in  a  decision  for  or  against  marriage. 
Again,  conjugal  love  is  undergoing  a  marked 
change  in  modern  civilization.  In  place  of  a  basis 
for  marriage  founded  on  sexual  passion  or  eco- 
nomic considerations,  the  relationship  between 
the  sexes  is  assuming  a  more  emotional  and  a 
more  intellectual  aspect.  Sexual  and  economic 
considerations  relatively  diminish  in  importance, 
and  instead  comes  a  strong  desire  for  social  com- 
panionship in  the  higher  aspects  of  life.  An  ideal- 
izing tendency  develops  through  emphasis  on 
the  play  of  the  higher  emotions  and  an  appreci- 
ation of  each  other's  moral  and  intellectual  qual- 
ities. Marriage  under  such  conditions  is  neces- 
sarily monogamous  and  is  the  best  possible  basis 
for  parenthood.  This  development  has  added  to 
human  nature  a  new  quality  of  the  mind — a  sex- 
ual love  not  primarily  physical,  and  a  conjugal 
affection  that  endures  even  in  sickness,  misfor- 
tune, and  old  age.  It  is  therefore  socially  im- 
portant that  women,  unhampered  by  economic 
considerations,  be  allowed  the  determining  voice 
in  deciding  who  shall  be  the  fathers  of  their  chil- 


Ii6  THE   FAMILY 

dren  in  order  to  insure  a  free  choice  among  those 
who  are  most  vigorous  physically,  morally,  and 
mentally.  Furthermore,  a  union  founded  on 
mutual  esteem  and  love  will  naturally  result  in 
a  more  stable  family  life,  will  develop  mutual 
helpfulness  in  bearing  the  misfortunes  of  exist- 
ence, and  will  create  thereby  a  domestic  atmos- 
phere most  favorable  to  the  higher  development 
of  children. 

Partly  because  of  such  influences  marriages  of 
a  socially  higher  grade  tend  to  take  place  later  in 
life.  The  early  marriages  of  the  Orient  prove  in- 
jurious, since  wives  become  mothers  while  still 
physically  and  mentally  immature.  In  conse- 
quence their  children  are  often  weaklings,  and 
they  themselves  at  a  comparatively  early  age 
lose  their  beauty  and  break  down  physically. 
Their  husbands  by  contrast  are  still  in  the  prime 
of  life  and  find  it  hard  to  consort  with  wives  pre- 
maturely old.  Regularly  a  wife's  lot,  therefore,  is 
neglect,  divorce,  or  the  addition  to  the  family 
circle  of  younger  and  more  attractive  wives.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  marriage  of  mature  persons 
results  in  vigorous  offspring  at  a  minimum  of  loss 
of  vitality  on  the  wife's  part.  Under  such  condi- 
tions women  retain  their  attractiveness  much 
longer  than  wives  of  early  marriages,  and  may 
supplement  waning  physical  charms  by  the  higher 
qualities  of  the  soul.  Another  effect  of  the  mod- 


MARRIAGE  AND   DEMOCRACY     117 

ern  marriage  is  seen  in  the  birth  rate.  Savage 
races  have  a  moderate  birth  rate,  but  a  high  in- 
fant death  rate.  The  mass  of  population  in 
civilization  has  a  fairly  high  birth  rate  and  a 
high  infant  mortality  that  lessens  with  the  en- 
forcement of  principles  of  hygiene  and  sanitation. 
The  higher  social  classes  of  monogamous  society 
have  a  small  birth  rate  and  a  correspondingly 
small  death  rate,  since  fewer  children  are  born 
and  more  attention  is  paid  to  their  health  and 
training.  The  father  also  adds  his  influence  and 
experience  to  the  management  of  the  household 
and  thereby  aids  in  the  development  in  them  of  a 
more  vigorous  personality. 

These  influences  combined  have  a  refining 
eff"ect  on  the  male.  A  man  who  desires  to  marry 
an  intelligent  woman  of  equal  standing  must  sup- 
press all  thoughts  of  illicit  relationships  and  con- 
form to  as  strict  a  code  of  chastity  as  he  demands 
from  her.  Unquestionably  civilized  man  is  more 
strongly  sexual  than  the  savage,  but  he  must 
have  his  passions  under  thorough  restraint.  He 
must  be  self-controlled,  since  the  marriage  rela- 
tionship of  a  highly  monogamous  type  is  so 
dependent  on  mutual  love  and  confidence  that 
irregular  connections  on  either  side  destroy  this 
bond  and  practically  compel  a  divorce.  Neces- 
sarily, therefore,  the  male  becomes  more  altru- 
istic, respects  the  rights  and  personality  of  wife 


Ii8  THE  FAMILY 

and  children,  learns  to  be  chivalrous  in  his  atti- 
tude toward  women,  and  to  appreciate  at  their 
true  value  their  higher  qualities.  He  prefers  to 
devote  his  energies  to  his  ambitions,  not  to  the 
gratification  of  bodily  passions,  and  finds  in  the 
pursuits  of  wealth,  knowledge,  or  civic  honors, 
that  absorption  that  polygynous  males  find  in 
the  attractions  of  the  harem. 

Naturally  there  are  many  in  monogamous 
society  who  do  not  conform  to  these  require- 
ments, yet  under  the  principle  of  social  survival, 
the  standards  of  life  are  slowly  rising  and  those 
who  persist  in  violating  them  are  being  elimi- 
nated in  the  social  process.  The  state  is  a  power- 
ful factor  in  this  process  of  survival.  It  seeks 
through  legislation  and  administration  to  aid  in 
the  establishment  of  higher  standards  of  life.  It 
eases  the  strain  of  economic  competition  by  pro- 
hibition of  exhausting  labor  on  the  part  of  women 
and  children;  it  furnishes  compulsory  education 
for  both  sexes,  regulates  marital  and  parental 
relationships,  prohibits  polygyny,  and  seeks  to 
suppress  sexual  immorality  in  all  its  forms.  Re- 
ligion lends  its  sanction  to  these  efforts,  and 
unitedly  church  and  state  strive  to  maintain  a 
permanent  monogamous  standard  of  marriage, 
as  the  one  best  fitted  to  secure  high  morality,  a 
healthful  sexual  relationship,  and  the  production 
of  capable  children. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   FAMILY   UNDER   REORGANIZATION 

In  previous  chapters  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  pass  before  the  mind  in  rapid  review  the 
family  in  its  evolution  up  to  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. Beginning  in  a  simple  metronymic  form, 
it  slowly  developed,  as  aids  to  survival,  the  ties 
of  kinship,  a  legal  paternity,  a  formal  marriage 
ceremony,  and  systems  of  social  control  through 
kinsmen,  church,  and  state.  In  modern  times  it 
is  settling  on  democratic  lines,  after  many  vicis- 
situdes, the  relationship  of  husband  to  wife  and 
parents  to  children.  To-day  under  the  intensity 
of  urban  civilization  the  standards  once  so  firmly 
established  by  kinship  and  church  are  rapidly  in 
process  of  modification,  thereby  suggesting  as 
alternatives  either  an  anticipation  of  social  de- 
generacy or  the  necessity  of  a  reorganization  on 
firmer  bases  adjusted  to  newer  conditions. 

If  one  cared  to  lay  stress  on  the  social  condi- 
tions and  forces  that  retard  the  progress  of  the 
modern  family,  it  would  be  comparatively  easy 
to  depict  a  situation  so  black  that  only  pessimis- 
tic conclusions  could  be  drawn.  Especially  would 


I20  THE  FAMILY 

this  be  true  if  the  goal  in  mind  involved  the  hope- 
less possibility  of  a  return  to  the  passing  stand- 
ards of  former  generations.  If,  however,  one  may 
rely  by  preference  on  the  inherent  Tightness  of 
modern  tendencies,  then  certainly,  by  emphasis 
on  the  constructive  movements  of  the  day,  there 
may  be  discovered  a  scientific  basis  for  a  belief 
in  a  more  optimistic  outlook  for  the  institution  of 
the  family. 

The  chief  evils  that  beset  the  family  are  by 
no  means  new  in  human  experience,  though  the 
pressure  of  a  strenuous  economic  and  urban  en- 
vironment has  intensified  them.  Even  in  the 
earliest  known  civilization  a  system  of  prostitu- 
tion existed,  and  to-day  it  is  by  far  the  most  seri- 
ous handicap  on  social  progress.  It  is  an  evil 
widespread  throughout  the  United  States,  in 
every  village  and  city  of  the  land,  and  through 
its  train  of  resulting  contagious  diseases  has 
become  a  serious  national  menace.  Recent  inves- 
tigations show  ^  that  prostitution  as  a  business  is 
commercialized,  having  its  agents  scattered  in 
all  parts  of  the  earth,  its  "drummers"  working 
on  commission,  its  wage  system,  its  slavery,  and 
its  enormous  profits,  a  large  share  of  which  must 
be  set  aside  for  the  corruption  of  police  and  civic 
authorities.  It  ruins  not  only  the  health  and  lives 

^  See,  for  example,  the  Report  of  the  Vice  Commission 
of  Chicago. 


CHANGING  STANDARDS  121 

of  the  wretched  women  immeshed  in  its  toils,  but 
blights  the  ambitions  and  idealism  of  young  men, 
destroys  the  sanctity  of  home  and  domestic 
affection,  and  demoralizes  municipal  adminis- 
tration through  graft.  Furthermore,  its  evils 
seem  to  be  on  the  increase  owing  to  the  conniv- 
ance of  officials  and  the  mercenary  zeal  of  its 
promoters  in  their  attempts  to  arouse  and  to 
pander  to  the  depraved  appetites  of  boys  and 
men.  Heretofore,  also,  no  serious  attempt  has 
been  made  to  suppress  this  evil,  since  police  de- 
partments found  it  a  prolific  source  of  illegal 
income,  and  church,  school,  and  family  were 
combined  in  a  conspiracy  of  silence  in  respect 
to  a  subject  placed  under  social  ban  and  tabu. 
Unquestionably  there  is  no  evil  in  society  so  de- 
structive as  this  of  national  well-being  and  indi- 
vidual happiness.  It  is  a  vice  without  a  single 
redeeming  feature  and  finds  its  only  apology  in  a 
confession  of  human  weakness  and  depravity. 

Related  to  this  evil  and  attributable  entirely  or 
largely  to  the  same  causes  are  the  kindred  evils 
of  adultery,  bigamy,  sexual  perversion,  seduction, 
illegitimacy,  infanticide,  and  abortion.  No  sad- 
der pages  of  human  history  can  be  found  than 
would  be  displayed  in  the  social  records  of  these 
practices  so  destructive  of  the  morality  and  vir- 
tue of  the  human  race.  Yet  so  insidious  and  so 
secret  are  these  evils  that  many  persons  live  theii* 


122  THE   FAMILY 

lives  in  a  fools'  paradise,  knowing  nothing  of  the 
sinister  influences  environing  them  and  heedless 
of  the  dangers  threatening  their  friends  and  kin, 
and  sapping  the  foundations  of  national  pros- 
perity. 

Much  of  this  evil  may  rightly  be  charged  to 
the  intense  competition  involved  in  the  economic 
struggle  for  survival.  Underfed,  unskilled,  and 
ignorant  women  find  the  paths  of  virtue  much 
more  thorny  than  seems  to  be  the  road  to  vice. 
To  those  who  have  little  forethought,  chastity 
seems  of  small  importance  in  comparison  with  pro- 
spective gains  in  a  lucrative  business;  and  it  is 
not  strange  that  so  many,  under  the  enticements 
of  their  supposed  friends,  swell  the  ranks  of  the 
prostitute  class.  Again,  the  very  simplicity  of 
innocent  girls  is  too  often  the  cause  of  their  un- 
doing, since  they  are  ignorant  of  the  depravity 
of  human  nature,  and  are  sold  into  prostitution 
by  wolves  in  sheep's  clothing,  working  under  the 
stimulus  of  lust  or  gain. 

The  ranks  of  prostitution  also  are  recruited 
by  men  of  leisure,  who,  supported  by  inherited 
wealth,  instead  of  devoting  themselves  to  lives 
of  social  utility,  become  dissolute  and  ruin  or  aid 
in  the  ruin  of  weak  women  whom  manly  chivalry 
should  protect.  Then,  too,  prostitution  multi- 
plies because  an  early  marriage  to  many  men,  for 
financial  reasons,  is  an  impossibility;  and  these, 


CHANGING  STANDARDS  123 

under  the  stress  of  surging  passions  poorly  under 
control,  may  readily  yield  to  immoral  practices, 
ultimately  to  their  own  and  the  social  detriment. 
Men  not  steadily  employed,  for  example,  are 
especially  prone  to  temptations  of  this  sort,  since 
they  in  so  many  cases  become  homeless,  houseless 
wanderers,  restrained  by  no  social  or  domestic 
ties  except  such  as  may  linger  from  the  memories 
of  earlier  years.  Husbands,  moreover,  out  of 
regular  work  from  whatsoever  reason,  soon  dread 
to  face  the  hunger-look  of  wife  and  children, 
abandon  them  to  the  mercies  of  charitable  agen- 
cies, and  easily  learn  to  stifle  conscience  by  indul- 
gence in  the  many  forms  of  possible  dissipation. 
The  economic  and  social  standards  among  the 
socially  higher  classes  produce  their  effects  also 
in  the  confirmed  bachelor,  who  is  seldom  noted 
for  his  chastity;  or  else  in  the  late  and  childless 
marriage  so  common  in  modern  days. 

Another  real  danger  to  national  growth  lies  in 
the  modern  demand  for  celibacy  or  childless  mar- 
riages from  so  large  a  part  of  the  nation's  best 
population.  Soldiers  and  sailors  in  the  army  and 
navy,  the  great  body  of  women  teachers,  the 
priests,  brotherhoods,  and  sisterhoods  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  intelligent,  ambi- 
tious young  men  who  postpone  marriage  until 
they  have  a  suitable  income,  unitedly  make  up 
too  large  a  percentage  of  a  nation's  finest  popu- 


124  THE  FAMILY 

lation,  destined  for  the  most  part  to  leave  behind 
them  no  descendants  to  perpetuate  the  best 
qualities  of  the  race.  Because  of  such  conditions 
as  these  some  writers  foresee  only  racial  degen- 
eracy and  national  decadence. 

This  "race  suicide,"  to  use  the  term  launched 
by  Professor  Ross,i  has  a  double  aspect:  (i)  it 
may  refer  to  a  condition  in  which  the  members 
of  the  socially  higher  classes  become  extinct 
through  late  or  childless  marriages  or  the  avoid- 
ance of  marriage  at  all,  resulting  in  racial  propa- 
gation through  the  least  efficient  elements  of  the 
stock ;  or  (2)  as  the  term  is  used  by  Doctor  Ren- 
toul,2  a  race  commits  suicide  when  it  fails  to  take 
warning  from  experience  and  science;  allows 
itself  to  be  depleted  by  an  excessive  mortality, 
preventable  diseases,  the  racial  poisons  of  mor- 
phine, alcohol,  and  syphilis;  fails  to  prohibit 
parenthood  to  its  abnormal  and  defective  classes ; 
permits  vice  and  immorality  to  eat  away  the 
brawn  and  brain  of  its  citizens;  and  discourages 
its  best  population  from  marriage  by  social  con- 
ventions and  economic  standards. 

These  really  serious  handicaps  to  domestic 
integrity  and  racial  continuance  are  more  heavily 
weighted  by  the  insidious  subtle  influences  of  an 

*  Annals  of  the  American  Academy,  1901,  vol.  xvni, 
p.  88. 

'  Race  Culture  or  Race  Suicide. 


CHANGING  STANDARDS  125 

urban  environment,  which  seems  to  loosen  the 
ties  of  kinship  and  to  weaken  the  restraining  con- 
trol of  home  and  parents.  Add  to  these  the  rapid 
multiplication  of  divorce  as  exemplified  in  the 
United  States,  and  there  is  small  wonder  that  so 
many  anticipate  the  downfall  of  American  civili- 
zation as  a  consequent  from  racial  degeneration 
and  the  disappearance  of  homely  virtues  in  do- 
mestic relationships.  Such  pessimistic  conclu- 
sions would  seem  inevitable  if  one  were  to  rely  on 
historical  studies  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations; 
unquestionably  modern  civilization  presents 
many  of  the  marks  of  decadence  and  senility,  and 
there  is  no  known  panacea  warranted  to  cure  its 
social  ills.  The  chief  and  in  fact  the  only  hope  for 
racial  salvation  lies  in  the  new  factor  in  civiliza- 
tion which  has  so  rapidly  come  to  the  front  in  the 
last  fifty  years,  namely,  a  growing  appreciation  of 
the  possibilities  of  science  and  its  prospective 
applications  to  social  betterment. 

Men  often  fail  to  realize  that  the  human  race 
is  not  decrepit  with  age,  but  is  in  fact  in  the  early 
flush  of  adolescence,  since  the  earth  will  remain 
suited  for  human  habitation  for  several  millions 
of  years.  Civilization  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and 
present  attainments  will  seem  rudely  primitive  a 
thousand  years  hence.  Mankind  but  dimly  com- 
prehends the  mighty  power  in  its  possession  in 
the  human  brain  and  intellect.  Yet  in  this  twen- 


126  THE   FAMILY 

tieth  century  society  is  feeling  its  way  toward 
the  light  and  slowly  begins  to  dream  of  the  future 
and  to  test  its  strength  against  the  evils  that 
beset  it.  Through  science  in  its  applications 
in  the  fields  of  physics,  chemistry,  and  biology, 
the  possibilities  of  production  and  of  the  multi- 
plication of  food  supplies  will  be  so  thoroughly 
mastered  that  the  economic  problems  of  to-day 
and  the  Malthusian  threats  of  starvation  will  no 
longer  trouble  advanced  civilization.  Biology,  in 
addition  to  its  services  in  the  scientific  multipli- 
cation of  food  suppHes,  will  also  work  out  the 
principles  underlying  the  production  of  a  capable 
human  race.  The  newer  psychology,  basing  itself 
on  physiology,  will  increasingly  apply  its  prin- 
ciples to  social  education  and  to  the  larger  aspects 
of  social  control.  The  science  of  sociology,  also, 
so  rapidly  increasing  its  applicability  to  social 
betterment,  should  prove  of  great  aid  through  its 
synthetic  and  constructive  attitude  toward  social 
reforms  and  the  guidance  it  may  afiford  in  at- 
tempts to  solve  social  problems. 

Of  peculiar  interest  among  these  scientific 
movements  is  the  attention  now  devoted  to  the 
principles  of  racial  progress.  Naturally  this  may 
take  the  form  of  emphasis  on  the  improvement  of 
human  environment,  so  important  in  agitations 
for  social  reform,^  or  it  may  lay  stress  on  the  up- 
*  See,  for  example,  Miss  Richards's  Euthenics, 


CHANGING  STANDARDS  127 

building  of  the  human  race  through  heredity. 
Eight  years  ago  this  last  principle  was  brought 
into  prominence  by  Francis  Galton  through  his 
famous  papers  on  Eugenics  read  before  the  Eng- 
lish Sociological  Society.^  This  science,  now  so 
rapidly  in  process  of  formulation  by  careful  study, 
aims  to  deal  "with  all  influences  that  Improve 
the  inborn  qualities  of  a  race,"  and  in  its  purely 
biological  aspects  under  the  name  of  Genetics  ^ 
is  seeking  to  work  out  the  physiology  of  heredity 
and  variation,  chiefly  from  the  standpoint  of 
Mendelism.^  Should  these  biological  principles 
be  established  on  a  scientific  basis,  it  will  then 
become  possible  to  decide  accurately  in  respect 
to  mental  characteristics  inclining  toward  dis- 
ease, vice,  degeneracy,  or  their  opposites;  and  on 
the  basis  of  such  teaching  a  wise  social  policy 
can  be  established,  either  by  encouraging  mar- 
riages among  the  capable  or  by  prohibiting 
marriage  to  the  members  of  degenerate  stocks. 

If  the  science  of  Eugenics  be  broadened  by  the 
inclusion  of  psychological  and  sociological  prin- 
ciples, as  Galton  presumably  intended,  then  the 

*  See  Reports  of  that  society,  1904-05,  or  the  American 
Journal  of  Sociology,  July,  1904  and  1905. 

'  See,  for  example,  Bateson's  The  Method  and  Scope  of 
Genetics, 

^  The  study  of  scientific  breeding  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  inheritance  of  dominant  characteristics.  See,  Punnett's 
Mendelism  in  Bibliography. 


128  THE   FAMILY 

restriction  of  such  a  study  to  any  one  national- 
ity may  well  be  called  Eudemics.^  The  United 
States,  for  example,  in  a  eudemic  study  of  its 
population  would  have  before  it  the  problem  of 
developing  each  new  generation  into  a  more 
vigorous  racial  stock  capable  of  continuing  and 
enlarging  the  standards  and  ideals  of  the  nation. 
The  importance  of  such  a  study  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  family  is  evident.  If  science  can 
supply  definite  information  in  respect  to  human 
heredity  and  variation,  and  can  show  the  rela- 
tive importance  of  a  social  environment,  then  it 
would  be  a  mere  matter  of  time  before  such  know- 
ledge would  become  ingrained  in  social  institu- 
tions through  education,  and  progress  in  such 
matters  would  thereby  be  accelerated  enormously. 
Much  information  of  this  sort  is  already  available, 
so  that  the  adoption  of  a  eudemic  policy  is  even 
now  feasible.  Such  a  policy  maybe  presented  from 
many  points  of  view,  and  three  of  these  will  be 
suggested  in  turn  as  illustrative  of  methods  pos- 
sible of  employment. 

(i)  The  first  and  perhaps  lowest  form  of  a 
social  program  would  involve  a  policy  of  elimi- 
nation and  extermination,  and  would  embrace 
the  movement  against  disease,  as,  for  example, 
against  diphtheria  or  tuberculosis.  If  it  becomes 

*  A  word  suggested  by  Librarian  Koopman,  of  Brown 
University. 


CHANGING  STANDARDS  129 

plainly  evident  from  studies  in  heredity  that 
certain  human  stocks  are  distinctly  inimical  to 
racial  development,  these  must  surely  be  elimi- 
nated through  a  policy  of  segregation,  as,  for 
example,  in  the  case  of  the  idiotic  or  feeble- 
minded, or  through  restraints  on  propagation  by 
means  of  some  such  operation  as  vasectomy  or 
ovariotomy.  These  stocks  under  present  theory 
would  include  those  clearly  degenerate  in  phy- 
sique, mentality,  or  morality,  and  it  should  be 
entirely  possible  in  advanced  civilization  within 
this  century  practically  to  reduce  disease  to  a 
vanishing  point  and  to  extirpate  a  large  percent- 
age of  degenerate  stocks  by  prohibitions  on  mar- 
riage and  propagation.  In  the  same  way  it  is  on 
the  face  of  it  possible  to  agitate  against  the  great 
social  evils  of  the  time  with  the  hope  of  eradi- 
cating them  from  civilization.  Hence  there  are 
among  social  reforms  many  making  war,  as  it 
were,  upon  some  great  vice  or  social  evil,  such  as 
sexualism,  intemperance,  gambling,  or  rapacious 
landlordism,  and  the  exploitation  of  children  in 
the  industries. 

(2)  Yet  it  is  becoming  increasingly  evident 
that  the  direct  method  of  attack  is  not  nearly 
so  efficacious  as  are  methods  of  social  regulation 
and  control.  Much  that  seems  attributable  to 
deficiencies  in  heredity  or  to  innate  depravity 
is  in  reality  due  to  the  influence  of  an  environ- 


130  THE  FAMILY 

ment  in  need  of  effective  regulation.  In  economic 
matters,  for  example,  modern  civilization  is  no 
longer  in  need  of  industries  that  can  thrive  only 
on  underpaid  labor,  and  a  nation  might  better 
forego  some  of  its  economic  profits  if  these  are 
gained  through  the  degradation  of  any  part  of 
its  population.  Society,  therefore,  should  insist  on 
the  payment  of  a  living  wage,  sufficient  to  allow 
of  decent  standards  of  living,  and.  that  work  be 
performed  under  proper  conditions  of  sanitation. 
Furthermore,  a  wage  should  be  determined  by 
the  earnings  of  an  adult,  not  by  the  joint  wage  of 
two  or  more  members  of  a  family ;  and  the  amount 
of  work  demanded  should  be  standardized  under 
efficiency  methods  and  equal  pay  given  for  equal 
work.  The  state  also  should  see  to  it  that  the 
relations  between  employer  and  employed  be 
carefully  regulated  so  as  to  eliminate  as  much 
as  possible  disputes  in  respect  to  wages,  hours, 
employers'  liability,  and  the  glut  or  scarcity 
of  labor,  and  also  that  the  housing  conditions  of 
workers  as  well  as  general  civic  conditions  of 
health  and  sanitation  be  favorable  to  a  whole- 
some life.  Especially  should  suitable  regulations 
be  developed  against  the  exploitation  of  women 
and  children,  since  no  race  with  safety  can  allow 
these  to  be  subjected  to  conditions  that  will  de- 
press their  vitality  and  efficiency.  The  opposi- 
tion of  those  interested  in  the  maintenance  of 


CHANGING  STANDARDS  131 

low  standards  of  life  should  in  no  case  be  allowed 
to  thwart  the  demand  for  racial  integrity  and 
happiness. 

Moreover,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  as  knowledge 
multiplies  in  regard  to  matters  involving  sex 
morals  and  problems  of  domestic  relationships 
there  will  come  in  certain  directions  modifica- 
tions in  social  policy.  Illegitimacy,  for  instance, 
rightly  is  condemned  by  public  opinion,  for  chil- 
dren should  not  be  born  into  the  world  except 
under  conditions  set  by  moral  standards  based 
on  experience  and  scientific  knowledge.  Yet  it 
is  possible  that  in  the  future  society  may  look 
compassionately  on  mother  and  child  under  such 
circumstances,  but  visit  its  sternest  disapproba- 
tion on  the  father,  compelling  him  to  set  aside  a 
proportionate  share  of  his  income  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  child,  and  publicly  to  acknowledge 
it  as  his  ofTspring.  Public  opinion  also  in  the 
case  of  the  prostitute  may  be  inclined  to  forbear 
from  condemnation  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
incarcerate  as  criminals  those  who  tempt  women 
to  sin  and  who  pander  to  human  lust.  Again,  in 
further  illustration,  under  present  conditions  a 
poor  widow  having  minor  children  is  punished 
for  her  motherhood  by  privation  and  excessive 
toil  through  her  endeavor  to  support  them  in 
decency,  whereas  a  proper  policy  would  cheer- 
fully support  them  as  a  united  family,  not  out  of 


132  THE   FAMILY 

charity  but  as  a  right  due  to  the  mothers  of  the 
next  generation.  Indeed,  it  is  not  unHkely  that 
the  state  under  a  complete  insurance  system  may 
supply  an  annual  pension  to  the  mothers  of  minor 
children,  as  a  policy  far  more  socially  justifiable 
than  pensions  allotted  for  services  in  war. 

(3)  After  all,  the  real  solution  of  domestic 
problems  will  depend  not  on  eliminations  and 
regulations  so  much,  since  these  have  only  a  tem- 
porary value,  as  on  the  spread  of  scientific  know- 
ledge aiming  at  the  betterment  of  economic  con- 
ditions and  general  intelligence  on  the  part  of 
the  whole  population.  When  a  nation,  conserv- 
ing and  developing  its  natural  resources,  seeks 
also  through  education  to  stimulate  the  invent- 
ive capacity  of  its  people  and  to  train  them 
vocationally,  it  will  gradually  free  itself  from  the 
burden  of  a  mass  of  illiterate  and  unskilled 
laborers  and  multiply  production  so  largely  as  to 
free  itself  from  the  curse  of  pauperism  and  pov- 
erty. Other  hindrances  to  civilization  also  would 
disappear  through  the  gradual  elimination  of 
defectives  and  incompetents,  through  the  guar- 
anty of  work  to  every  capable  adult,  and  through 
the  payment  of  living  wages  to  women  as  well  as 
to  men.  As  the  standard  of  living  rises  with 
economic  betterment,  the  excessive  families  of 
the  improvident  poor  will  diminish  in  numbers, 
since  workers  would  become  ambitious  for  social 


CHANGING  STANDARDS  133 

advancement  and  would  emphasize  quality  of 
offspring  rather  than  quantity.  With  advancing 
civilization  would  come  a  more  leisurely  and  less 
strenuous  life,  placing  less  stress  on  economic 
wealth  and  more  on  intellectual  and  moral  pro- 
gress. This  would  permit  of  marriage  to  many 
now  debarred  from  marriage,  and  as  the  teach- 
ings of  eugenics  become  part  of  morals  and  reli- 
gion, public  opinion  will  frown  on  a  celibate  life 
and  childless  marriages.  The  removal  of  the  tabu 
on  the  discussion  of  sex  morals  will  result  in  an 
intelligent  appreciation  on  the  part  of  women  of 
the  necessity  of  a  purification  of  present  condi- 
tions and  a  demand  for  a  single  standard  of  chas- 
tity. Stimulated  also  by  maternal  love,  women 
will  insist  on  an  education  that  will  really  pre- 
pare the  child  to  become  an  efficient  worker,  an 
intelligent  citizen,  and  a  wise  parent.  Education 
already  is  losing  its  artificial  character  and  is 
once  more  seeking  to  ally  itself  with  the  home. 
Uniting  itself  with  the  library  and  the  museum, 
with  art,  music,  and  wholesome  recreation,  the 
school  is  becoming  the  center  of  the  social  life 
of  its  neighborhood.  It  seeks  to  bring  together, 
with  a  common  interest  in  the  child,  the  parent, 
the  teacher,  and  the  expert  in  health.  It  looks 
forward  to  the  maturer  life  of  its  students  and 
seeks  to  prepare  them  for  civic  and  economic 
usefulness  and  domestic  responsibilities.  It  trains 


134  THE   FAMILY 

them  in  personal  hygiene,  in  sex  morals,  in  a 
recognition  of  duty  to  state  and  society,  and 
aims  so  to  refine  their  personalities  as  to  ehmi- 
nate  unconsciously  the  bestial  elements  derived 
from  a  lower  civilization.  This  is  the  age  of  the 
child,  emphasizing  its  rights  and  demanding  that 
every  child  born  into  the  world  have  honorable 
parentage,  right  training,  a  morally  stimulating 
environment,  and  full  opportunity  through  edu- 
cation to  make  the  most  of  its  latent  powers.  A 
civilization  with  such  aims  need  have  no  fears  of 
racial  decadence,  but  rather  may  rely  on  a  pure 
family  life,  a  permanent  monogamous  tie,  and  a 
society  largely  free  from  its  present  defilements. 


THE  END 


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